Teaching engineering

I'll be taking off of Brazil shortly, flying half of the world to Japan to pursue a Master's degree on engineering. But the engineering-education world is quite cloudy nowadays. And there are lost of reasons for this:

1. There are lots of "types" of engineering (mechanical, civil, electric, production, etc) and counting, but they're not really different things.
2. Most areas and subareas of engineering have grown too large for their own good, but most universities seem to simply jam up more courses and requirements.
3. The usual or old-school method for teaching engineering (board, chalk, standing teacher and sleepy students sitting) just doesn't prepare students to be engineers.
4. New perspectives point to a "problem-solving" approach to engineering, but this simply doesn't translate to changes on classrooms (except for PBL).
5. We're mostly been asked to rethink the role of the faculty, without rethinking the role of the engineer.

I'm don't feel ready to discuss the role of an engineer in today's world, but - for that matter - I'm not ready to discuss today's world either... too complex. Going to school was the activity I performed the greatest part of my life, so I guess discussing education should be easier, but it isn't. I'd gladly point out lots of mistaken educational ideas, though.