Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Página 426 de 957
of their students, which has allowed through the ongoing review of its education processes
and the progress evaluation in achieving educational objectives and skills development as
defined in the profile of graduates, to improve curricular aspects, as well as teaching,
learning and assessment processes to positively impact the development of skills in
college graduates.
This paper will present the education process implemented by the college for each of the
six programs that comprise it, focusing the presentation in the assessment processes
developed, their features, the results derived from their development, especially those
obtained by progressive improvement cycle; likewise, the paper includes the actions that
are being implemented today as a result of the recommendations obtained in the process
of international accreditation.
Framework
Due to the constant and rapid development the world is going through today in multiple
productive sectors, a reflection of globalization, every day requires better trained
professionals with better university education, which is why universities are increasing
efforts to offer quality programs which meet the needs of society and industry in general.
One of the main objectives of the Engineering College of the Universidad del Norte is
providing quality education. Quality in higher education includes aspects such as
formulation of learning objectives relevant to professional performance and teachinglearning
processes that guarantee their acquisition, and knowledge by teachers in the
learning styles of their students, to know how to assist them in achieving their objectives
(Sparkes. J, 1995). As such, the assurance of quality is used to improve teaching and
learning processes (Al-Qutayri & Shubair, 2009).
To obtain a system of quality assurance, academic resources are needed, as well as
infrastructure, management and training of university faculty, where should be a total
commitment of both these and the directives of the institution. This commitment is vital
because the importance of developing strategies to strengthen the growth and
development of the institution through the quality assurance is spread throughout the
university community. Once done, the model to be used should be designed to achieve the
objectives, that´s why a self-study analyzing the current state of the process has to be
done, in order to identify those points that must be addressed through strategies and
actions to be taken. After this, a pilot test in which the implementation strategies are done
and actions listed above is carried out, and thus it is evaluated whether the results meet
the objectives intended. Once the pilot test is finished, final corrective actions are taken,
and the results are again compared with the goals. If a positive result is obtained, the
system design process ends; otherwise, the most important points that should be
improved are identified (Camacho & Ruiz, 2010).
The previous system was implemented, based on guidelines established by ABET under
the EC200 (Engineering Criteria 2000) and it essentially consists on the objective
measurement of student performance and at the same time, to identify those aspects that
should be improved in the formative process. The EC2000 formulated by ABET, focuses on
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011