Abstract
This chapter contributes to the quest for a generic Global Model of Engineering Quality Assurance to guide future developments in engineering education Quality Assurance. Any Quality Assurance system requires two essential components: first, accreditation criteria, including exit-level outcomes, and second, policies and procedures for the programme evaluation process. This chapter describes a set of programme outcomes and level indicators, called Graduate Attributes (GA), developed by the International Engineering Alliance (IEA). The GA are related to a set of generic professional competency (PC) statements also developed by the IEA for the registration level. The GA and PC provide an understanding of the distinctive educational attributes and professional capability of the members of the engineering team: engineers, technologists and technicians. The chapter reviews the successes and limitations of the GA and how they could evolve.
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Notes
- 1.
Washington Accords (1989) at http://www.ieagreements.org/Washington-Accord/
- 2.
Sydney Accords (2001) at http://www.ieagreements.org/sydney/ and Dublin Accords (2002) at http://www.ieagreements.org/Dublin/
- 3.
See for example: ABET, Criteria For Accrediting Engineering Programs (2005), Available http://www.abet.org; Engineering Council UK, The Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes, UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence, 2004, Available http://www.engc.org.uk; Engineers Australia, National Generic Competency Standards – Stage 1 Competency Standards for Professional Engineers, Document P05, 2005; Engineers Ireland, Accreditation Criteria for Engineering Programmes, 2003, Available http://www.engineersireland.ie/; IPENZ, Requirements for Initial Academic Education for Professional Engineers, December 2003, http://www.ipenz.org.nz/ipenz/forms/pdfs/
- 4.
See International Engineering Alliance, International Engineering Meetings (IEM) at http://www.washingtonaccord.org/IEM.cfm
- 5.
International Engineering Agreements Web site: http://www.ieagreements.org/
- 6.
It is recognised that professional practice examinations are used in some jurisdictions.
- 7.
References
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Acknowledgements
The author’s grateful thanks go to George Peterson (author of chapter “Quality Assurance in the Preparation of Technical Professionals: The ABET Perspective”) who first proposed defining graduate attributes; Andrew Cleland, who took up the challenge and Basil Wakelin who crystallised the unified approach to Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies. Many colleagues from IEA signatories have contributed regularly to the ongoing development the GA and PC including Kate Aberle, Jim Birch, Alan Bradley and Deborah Wolfe. The kind permission of the IEA Secretariat to reproduce material in Tables 3–5 (the Appendix) is acknowledged and greatly appreciated.
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Hanrahan, H. (2009). Toward Consensus Global Standards for Quality Assurance of Engineering Programmes. In: Patil, A., Gray, P. (eds) Engineering Education Quality Assurance. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0555-0_4
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