Michigan Tech is working on what it believes is a first-ever collaborative study between the U.S. and the European Union to improve railway education.

"We are currently conducting an industry survey to learn more about the demands and needs by the industry (quantitative and qualitative)," said Pasi Lautala, director, rail transportation program. "At the same time, we're learning a lot about the background of our workforce. We've had quite a few responses already, but we're hoping to finish with a big bang."

"Five universities from United States and European Union are working together to improve railway education and to increase trans-Atlantic collaboration," Lautala said. "As part of this Tuning Rail Higher Education (TUNRAil) project, the research team is looking for input from the industry experts on both sides on Atlantic Ocean to better understand the demands placed by the industry for university graduates and for universities involved in rail. To date, we have 190 respondents, but we're looking for much more to get a meaningful sample of such large industry."

Here are some initial outcomes of responses:

- 85 percent of industry respondents are male, 15 percent female.

- 50+ percent are from the U.S., the rest from EU and the rest of the world.

- 50+ percent are either civil, mechanical or electrical engineers. The rest come from numerous backgrounds.

- 30 percent gained rail experience either before university or at the university.

- 50 percent said that exposure played a major role in career decision.

- 76 percent believe university education in rail operations/management would benefit their company.

- 70+ percent believe that increasing university collaboration would benefit industry in recruitment, R&D and innovation/creativity.

- 72 percent believe that more people will work in rail positions in their company three years from now.

"There is still time to participate in the survey, which consists of two separate parts," Lautala noted. "The first part takes only 2-4 minutes to fill and is targeted to anyone in the railway industry, while the second part is mainly targeted for managers of younger professionals and those involved in recruitment and training. Please use this link to access the survey: http://surveys.supersurvey.com/survey-bin/surveys/s34137.pl Thank you in advance for your assistance in improving the railway education. For more information or questions, you can visit our project web site at www.tunrail.info. The survey outcomes will also be posted on the web site in late fall 2010."