Bachelor of Civil Engineering Technology: Alignment of Program Educational Objectives with the Learning Outcomes in Accordance With Sydney Accord

Abstract

In widening the horizon of academic programs offered at local universities, the compliance with international academic standards and guidelines are of utmost importance to ensure unified global recognition and accreditation for future prospects of the graduates. The Sydney Accord recognizes 4-year engineering technology programs, and assists in determining if a bachelor-level program attains the required level for purposes of licensure and registration, employment or admission to graduate school in another jurisdiction or signatories (International Engineering Alliance, 2017). As such, this paper examines the alignment of Program Educational Objectives (PEOs) and Program Outcomes (POs) of an undergraduate Civil Engineering Technology program with stipulations of the Sydney Accord. At institution and faculty levels, the objectives and learning outcomes are oriented with the vision and mission respectively, assuring consistency of the program outputs with the organizational aspirations in general. The mechanisms and processes involved to establish and then review the objectives from time to time are elaborated, showing a collaborative effort with stakeholders to keep the curriculum of the Program abreast with current industrial needs and market trends. A discourse on how the POs are put in line with the PEOs ensues, detailing the mapping of the Program’s POs with the 12 standard outcomes of the Accord, as set forth in the Engineering Technology Accreditation Council (ETAC) Manual 2015, administered by the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) as a provisional signatory of the Sydney Accord. Also, a graduate engineering technologist is to be equipped with the essential attributes embodied in the POs, which capture both academic and non-academic skills and competencies expected of a graduate of the Program. Similar to the PEOs, the POs underwent review and revision periodically to maintain the relevance of the Program with industrial demands. Finaly attainment of the POs from the graduates is analyzed and discussed with emphasis on the integrated monitoring and continual improvement mechanism substantiated by collective work-based evidence of staff and students alike. In a nutshell, coordination and alignment with the Accord is meaningless lest supported by a monitoring-feedback close-loop system for continual improvement of the program implementation in the highly dynamic and driven field of technology.