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Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

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Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Pág<strong>in</strong>a 552 de 957<br />

A systematic consultation process to def<strong>in</strong>e graduate outcomes for eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g<br />

discipl<strong>in</strong>es<br />

David G. Dowl<strong>in</strong>g<br />

David.Dowl<strong>in</strong>g@usq.edu.au<br />

The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba<br />

Australia<br />

Roger G. Hadgraft<br />

Roger.Hadgraft@unimelb.edu.au<br />

The University of Melbourne, Melbourne<br />

Australia<br />

Abstract: In many countries around the world, there is considerable <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong><br />

the development of robust learn<strong>in</strong>g outcomes for eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g and other higher<br />

education programs. These outcomes underp<strong>in</strong> the accreditation systems<br />

operated by ABET, Eng<strong>in</strong>eers Australia, IPENZ, EUR-ACE and the Wash<strong>in</strong>gton<br />

Accord members. In addition, many national governments are develop<strong>in</strong>g<br />

quality assurance processes that will require university programs to deliver an<br />

agreed set of learn<strong>in</strong>g outcomes. This paper addresses the development of a<br />

systematic, data-driven methodology to develop such learn<strong>in</strong>g outcomes.<br />

Introduction<br />

The aim of the Def<strong>in</strong>e Your Discipl<strong>in</strong>e (DYD) project, funded by the Australian Learn<strong>in</strong>g<br />

and Teach<strong>in</strong>g Council (ALTC), is to identify and develop an efficient, effective and <strong>in</strong>clusive<br />

consultation process that can be used by discipl<strong>in</strong>e stakeholders to def<strong>in</strong>e graduate<br />

outcomes for programs <strong>in</strong> their discipl<strong>in</strong>e such as eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g, law or pathology. The<br />

consultative process has been trialled nationally to develop graduate outcomes for the<br />

environmental eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g discipl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> the first <strong>in</strong>stance.<br />

This paper describes the DYD stakeholder consultation process that was used <strong>in</strong> 2010 to<br />

capture the views of environmental eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g stakeholders, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g academics,<br />

practitioners, and recent graduates. The project team worked closely with an<br />

Environmental Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g Project Reference Group which was formed by Eng<strong>in</strong>eers<br />

Australia’s Environmental Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g College. The College organised the stakeholder<br />

consultation workshops, which were held <strong>in</strong> all ma<strong>in</strong>land capitals. This ensured that data<br />

was collected from environmental eng<strong>in</strong>eers from both <strong>in</strong>dustry and academia.<br />

Context<br />

There is a substantial body of literature that def<strong>in</strong>es the k<strong>in</strong>d of competencies that young<br />

graduates should have as they emerge from universities ready for the eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g<br />

workplace. These <strong>in</strong>clude the US ABET requirements and those from Eng<strong>in</strong>eers Australia.<br />

In addition, most Australian universities have published a set of generic graduate<br />

attributes that would be acquired by all undergraduate students, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g<br />

students, by the time they graduated from their program. Recent work <strong>in</strong> Australia also<br />

Proceed<strong>in</strong>gs of <strong>Research</strong> <strong>in</strong> Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Education</strong> <strong>Symposium</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />

Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October <strong>2011</strong>

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