Queens University Kingston, Canada

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• Queens University - Kingston, Canada
• Department of Mechanical and Materials
  Engineering
• Alumni/-ae Survey
• September, 2004

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Outline
• Goals of the survey
• The template used in the alumni/-ae survey
• Who was surveyed?
• Selected results
• Discussion of results
• CEAB
• Conclusion

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Goals of the Survey
• To help in the modification of the Mechanical and
  Materials Engineering curriculum to ensure that
  it leads to the levels of proficiency for
  graduating engineers required by industry.
• To assist in the review of the curriculum in Fall
  2004
• To assist in developing the CEAB submission in
  2005
• To act as a Benchmark for future surveys
• To assist in Benchmarking for the Mechanical and
  Materials Engineering program with those of other
  universities worldwide

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• The Survey
• The template used in the survey was developed
  from the Alumni/-ae Survey undertaken by QUB
• The survey consisted of questions regarding the
  following
• The name, year of graduation from
  Queens-Kingston, and occupation of the
  respondent
• 1.0 Mathematics
• 2.0 Mechanical and Materials Engineering Sciences
• 3.0 Additional Core Subjects
• 4.0 Personal and Professional Skills and
  Attributes
• 5.0 Operating Systems in the Enterprise and
  Societal Context
• 6.0 Allocation of Teaching Time
• NOTE The survey covers only of the core
  curriculum, not the technical electives.

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Five Levels of Proficiency
• Concluded that the levels had to deviate from
  CDIO Survey due to difficult wording
• Felt that a clear rank system was more efficient
  and simpler
• Tested CDIO Survey with 15 faculty members, 30
  graduate students, and 8 undergraduate students
  to obtain their opinion of the survey before
  sending it out to alumni/-ae
• The survey is similar to that used by QUB

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Who was surveyed?
• 3028 Mechanical and Materials Engineering
  graduates from 1970-2004
• 402 responses 13.3
• 10.3 female graduates, 89.7 male graduates
• 17.3 female graduate responded, 12.7 male
  graduates responded
• Older versus Younger Alumni/-ae
• Occupation of Alumni/-ae
• Other involved positions in finance, sales,
  teaching, etc.

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Selected Results- Queens Kingston
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Selected Results- Queens Kingston
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Selected Results- Queens Kingston

• Comparison of MIT, QUB, and QUK
• The results of MIT, QUB and QUK were compared
  using a two- tailed T-test
• By conventional criteria, the differences between
  the three sets of survey results cannot be
  considered to be statistically significant.

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4.0 Personal and Professional Skills and
Attributes - Queens Kingston
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5.0 Operating System in the Enterprise and
Societal Context - Queens Kingston
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1.0 Mathematics - Queens Kingston
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2.0 Mechanical and Materials Engineering Sciences
- Queens Kingston

• Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Statics Solid
  Mechanics,Engineering Dynamics Kinematics
• Asked graduates for each core course listed above
  In this
• matter, how important is it that a graduating
  engineer should
• 2.X.1 Be familiar with basic principles and
  relationships
• 2.X.2 Be able to derive mathematical equations
  and relationships
• 2.X.3 Be able to apply engineering knowledge to
  real world issues

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3.0 Additional Material - Queens Kingston
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6.0 Allocation of Teaching Time
Queens Kingston
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Comments from Alumni/-ae
• From their work experience, many alumni/-ae felt
  that the following should be emphasized in the
  curriculum in order to better prepare our
  graduates for positions in industry
• More practical application/ real world issues
  38
• Excellent communication skills 21
• More group projects/ teamwork 27
• Other comments 14

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Suggestions to Improve the Quality of a
  Graduating Engineer Student
• Practical work experience requirement (ex coop
  program)
• Make the undergraduate degree 4.5 - 5 years
  instead of 4 to put more emphasis and time on a
  full design project / thesis
• A more holistic approach and understanding of the
  business world (example 6-sigma )
• A good grasp of project management
• To learn and be aware of environmental impacts
  and issues
• Up to date with latest technologies

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Summary
• Expected level of proficiency similar to QUB
• Little difference between younger and older
  graduates
• More real world, multidisciplinary project based
  work with a strong communication and teamwork
  component

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB)
• The usual route to becoming a Professional
  Engineer in Canada is to complete an accredited
  program at university, work as an engineer under
  the supervision of a Professional Engineer for
  four years and pass a Professional Practice
  Examination. CEAB is the body that has the
  responsibility for accrediting university
  programs in Canada. Although licensing of
  Professional Engineers is a provincial
  responsibility, CEAB is a national body formed by
  the provincial professional engineering bodies.
• University engineering programs must normally be
  reaccredited every six years.

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB)
• CEAB was established to accredit undergraduate
  engineering programs that will provide aspiring
  engineers with the academic requirements
  necessary for registration as a professional
  engineer in Canada
• CEAB also assesses the equivalency of the
  accreditation systems used in other nations to
  the Canadian system
• CEAB works closely with Canadian universities to
  ensure that graduates of accredited engineering
  programs have the skills they need to become
  productive members of the profession.

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB)
• Beside looking at the quality of a program and of
  the professors delivering the program, CEAB looks
  at the workload in the program.
• Workload is in terms of Academic Units (AU), this
  being such that 3 X 1.0 hour lectures with 1.0
  tutorial per week for one term 42 Academic
  Unit.
• Engineering programs in Canada involve four
  years, i.e. eight terms, of study. The equivalent
  of approximately six 42 AU courses are taken per
  term.
•   

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB)
• CEAB looks at the distribution of the material in
  a program between Mathematics, Basic Sciences,
  Complementary Studies Languages, Engineering
  Science and Engineering Design.
• The QUK mechanical and materials engineering
  curriculum consists of the following distribution
  of academic units
•   

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• The Near Future
• The following are underway or will be started in
  the very near future
• A benchmarking of our present program against the
  CDIO standards.
• A survey of our incoming (2nd year) students.
• An evaluation of our program in light of the
  results of the alumni/-ae survey.
• Preparation for CEAB reaccreditation process in
  2005.

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston

• Conclusions
• Summarizing the input of the alumni/-ae
• A prime goal of an engineering education should
  be to teach students how to think logically,
  creatively and critically.
• Problem solving/analysis is an important feature
  of engineering, but it must be complemented by
  having a global perspective and the ability to
  communicate ideas in an effective manner in order
  to be successful.
• Current schooling doesnt allow students
  sufficient experience with full cycle projects to
  learn from trial and error. We put a lot of
  emphasis on C-D, but due to time limitation,
  there is not enough I-O.

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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston
Some of our students do, at times, seem to be
from another world.
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Alumni/-ae Survey - Queens Kingston