Engineering, Science, and Management War Training

The Engineering, Science, and Management War Training program (ESMWT) was one of the largest and most productive educational activities in America's history. It was perhaps only second to the G.I. Bill (officially the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944) in its scope and productivity.

Sometimes referred to as an "experiment in streamlined higher education", this government-sponsored program provided, without charge, college-grade courses for large numbers of Americans to fill urgently needed technical and scientific civilian positions just prior to and during World War II. College-grade was officially defined as "work of an academic standard customarily demanded of engineering-school students."

With successive designations of Engineering Defense Training (EDT), Engineering, Science, and Management Defense Training (ESMDT), and ESMWT, the program was operated by the U.S. Office of Education from October 1940 through June 1945, with 227 colleges and universities providing about 68,000 courses for close to 1,800,000 students at a total cost of some $60 million ($940 million today's dollars).

In mid-1940, before America officially entered World War II, it was brought to the attention of U.S. Congress that the civilian effort supporting the expected conflict would require far more engineers than were then available or could be produced through normal programs at colleges and universities. As part of the budget preparation, Congress tasked John W. Studebaker, then U.S. Commissioner of Education and head of the Office of Education (predecessor of the United States Department of Education), to develop a program to help alleviate this crisis.

Studebaker asked Andrey A. Potter, Dean of Engineering at Purdue University, to assist in developing this program and in preparing a proposal to Congress. A National Advisory Committee – composed of academic leaders and industry officials – first met on September 20–21, 1940. On October 9, a bill authoring the Engineering Defense Training (EDT) program with initial funding of $9 million (equivalent to $138 million in 2008) was passed by Congress and quickly signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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