The Education Of Professional Engineers In Australia

The authors of this book consider the future of the profession of engineering. Issues discussed include engineering education, competencies and professional skills/attributes, and the future roles of engineers, following the directives of economic rationalism or contributing to a renewal of civil society by taking responsibility for the social and human, as well as the technical and economic, consequences of their work.

This book examines quality teaching in professional education in the fields of engineering and international knowledge structures. The second of a two-volume series, the editors and contributors structure the book around case studies which highlight the elements constituting good practice within professional education. While there is no one specific route to prepare well-qualified professionals, this volume explores the decisions the academics responsible for delivering this education make to ensure quality curricula. Ultimately, the key to effective preparations rests with the value employers place on the focus, emphasis and balance between the academic and practical in relation to their own expectations for skills that graduates must have. The second volume in this collection will appeal to students and scholars of professional pedagogy, and engineering pedagogy more specifically.

SUMMARY.

This book details the key concepts, objectives and processes relating to the professional accreditation of engineering bachelor (honours) degrees. The contemporary context of accreditation is examined in terms of the globalised nature of both the engineering profession and higher education. Examples of the processes relating to single and dual accreditation are provided, with examination of the Washington Accord and the requirements of the European Network for Accreditation of Engineering Education. Details are also provided as to how learning outcomes can be structured to demonstrate compliance with accreditation criteria. The final chapters deal briefly with quality assurance processes used in education and the current international quality ranking systems which exist. This book will provide the reader with a detailed examination of outcome based education within the context of Bachelor of Engineering (honours) degrees. A key feature of this book is the side-by-side comparison of different accreditation criteria and a thorough discussion of the relatively new phenomenon of dual accreditation. The book seeks to provide a very clear explanation and exploration of accreditation within the context of engineering education and will benefit those practitioners involved in the accreditation process.