The challenge of preparing engineering graduates for a fast-changing work environment calls for the development of thinking programmes. A psychological basis was used to develop the tenets of the approach. The Cognitive Modifiability Intervention (CMI) was rationalized and conceived as a corollary of observations of learning scenarios and an application of the theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability (SCM). The CMI curriculum encapsulates the following key areas: (1) belief system and affective-motivational processes; (2) mediated learning experience; (3) cognitive functions; (4) instruments for intervention; and (5) bridging for transfer of learning. The CMI included four major clusters of cognitive domains, namely the Affective Motivation Domain (ADM), the Systematic-Strategic Thinking (SST) cluster, the Analytical Inferential Thinking (AIT) cluster and the Divergent-Creative Thinking (DICT) cluster. It is argued that understanding the cognitive needs of engineering students, an approach of dealing with the prerequisites of thinking through active modification, and coaching skills through staff development are essential to the development of a cognitive curriculum for engineering education. (Contains 5 figures.)