I wonder if the American-trained engineers are as qualified as the foreign-trained specimens?

I'm sure some are, and some aren't. The foreign engineers often have a better work ethic. 1poorlady -to this day- maintains that American engineers are lazy. She was a Philippines-trained engineer.

When I was in grad school, I was in a coalition of -mostly- Irish students, and a naturalized Irish principal researcher (Trevor Weekes). Talking about their education, they seemed to get a LOT more in high school than we did. They were generally more advanced in "maths" and science, and had a good amount of lit and other general studies. So by the time they hit college/university, they were ready to specialize in whatever area they were interested.

Freshmen in US universities are -from my discussions with professors- being brought up to the level they should have been coming out of high school, so they can actually start learning the university-level material.