A BLUEPRINT FOR EXECUTING CONTINUAL QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN AN ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMME

Abstract

This paper focuses on providing a template of how to practice Continual Quality Improvement (CQI) in an Engineering Undergraduate Programme. At the inception of the programme, the academic curriculum is based upon the notion of the type of graduate an institution of higher learning would like to produce. Hence, a graduate of a particular institution embodies its vision and mission. Taking this further and to ensure specificity in the type of graduate produced, Engineering Programmes provide a set of Programme Educational Objectives (PEOs) which are derived from the vision and mission. From these PEOs, the Programme Outcomes (POs) are crafted, followed by the Learning Outcomes (LOs) at the module level – and hence the appropriate curriculum is decided upon. Once the programme is in full implementation, there exists a need to monitor and control the PEOs, POs and LOs to ensure that the programme progresses and evolves. Herein lies the need to practice CQI at all three levels. The following paper will provide an emphasis of how CQI, implemented correctly can result in enhancing the overall student learning experience.

Keywords

• Continual Quality Improvement
• Programme outcomes
• Learning outcomes
• Engineering Programme