QUAltlYASSURANCEanel UElEVANCEuf~~

EDlMxminmcA

A Report of the Expert Group Meeting

on Engineering Education in Africa

Edited by J. G. M. Massacpoi and F. M. Luti

AN5-W The African Network

of Scientific and

Technological

Institutions

CONTENTS

PREFACE J.G.M. Massaquoi

REPORT ON THE WORKSHOP J.G.M. Massaquoi and EM. Luti

PAPERS CONTRIBUTED 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Quality Assurance and Relevance of Engineering Education in Africa L.M. Maw Quality Assurance and Relevance of Engineering Education at the University of Zambia, S. B. Kanyanga Training of Engineering Graduates in Response to Present and Future Needs for the Country: Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) Experience, SM. Maranga A Critical look at Issues affecting Quality and Relevance of Engineering Education in Malawi, WA. B. Kunje Some Issues Relating to Relevance and Quality assurance in Engineering Education at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, N. K. Kurnapley Quality Assurance and Relevance of Engineering in Zimbabwe, D. J. Simbi and O.S. Chinyamakobvu From Continuous Quality Improvement towards Professional Accreditation in Engineering: The Quest and the Questions, H.S. Rughooputh

ANNEXES

Annex 1 List of participants Annex 2 Programme

1

PREFACE

Engineering institutions in Africa produce graduates who will like to compete on the regional and global job market. A cost-effective system of quality assurance is therefore necessary in order to make the graduates very marketable. Such a system would also facilitate the exchange of students among the institutions in the region.

Another issue that keeps coming up at international conferences where higher education is discussed is that of Relevance. The latter is a problem, particularly in professional courses such as engineering. Most African universities are pursuing course programmes that are no longer relevant to the national development objectives. Hence there is need to examine the programmes and curricula.

In November 1997, a meeting was convened by UNESCO under the auspices of the African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions (ANSTI). The participants at the meeting deliberated on the issues of relevance and quality assurance, identified areas of concern and made recommendations on how to address them. Furthermore, the participants identified three conceptual approaches for the developments of relevant engineering training programmes. This report covers the proceedings of the meeting. It is hoped that the recommendations and ideas it contains, will serve as a useful starting point for engineering institutions which are in the process of revising their curricula.

UNESCO is very grateful to the participants for their valuable inputs during the meeting.

J. G. M. Massaquoi ANSTI Project Coordinator UNESCO Nairobi Office P.O. Box 30592 Nairobi, Kenya Fax: (254)-2-215991 & (254)-2-520855

2

--.

REPORT ON THE WORKSHOP

Prof: J.G.M. Massaquoi and Pro$ EM. Luti

1. INTRODUCTION

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in its continuing effort to upgrade and strengthen engineering education in Africa, is involved with several projects which include the revision of curricula and the development of a good accreditation system as a basis for quality assurance.

Quality Assurance is essential in order to ensure that graduates of engineering schools in Africa are able to participate fully in the regional and global exchange of knowledge and skills. Furthermore, it enables potential students and local employers to have confidence in the programmes. The students may therefore not hesitate to look to the local institutions for their education and training while industry will confidently employ products of the local training institutions. This will facilitate the control of brain drain, since there is evidence that those who go outside the region for training are often less likely to return and serve their countries.

Working with the African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions (ANSTI), UNESCO seeks to make engineering education in Africa more relevant and to assure its credibility and quality. In this connection an expert group meeting was held in Nairobi in November 1997 which examined model engineering programmes as well as specific techniques for quality assurance.

2. OBJECTIVES

The workshop addressed two important issues in engineering education in Africa: Relevance and Quality Assurance. The need to address these issue is very urgent. In the case of “Quality Assurance” it has become necessary to address it, because doubts are being expressed about the quality of engineering education in Africa in view of the acute resource limitations (both human and physical) which some engineering institutions in the region are facing. There is therefore need to develop a system that will assess quality in order to ensure that potential users have confidence in the products. Such a system has to be cost-effective and implementable under the circumstances of the African educational environment. Thus, one of the objectives of the workshop was to examine all possible methods of quality assurance including accreditation, external examiner system, etc. to present a cost- effective method of quality assurance.

In the case of relevance of engineering education, it had been noted that several African leaders and industrialists in the region, have expressed doubts about the appropriateness of some of the engineering course programmes. The relevance of any training or education is indicated by the suitability of its graduates in relation to the requirements of economic development and lifestyle of the community. Most African engineering programmes and curricula have undergone little or no change since their inception. Thus, the second objective of the workshop was to make recommendations on the contents, duration and nature of engineering course programmes which will be more relevant for the resolution of the socio-economic problems of the region.

3

3. PARTICIPANTS

There were thirteen participants in the meeting. As this was an Expert Group meeting, all the participants were Deans and former Deans of faculties of engineering who had extensive experience with the problems affecting engineering education in the region. A list of participants is given in the Annex.

4. MEETING FORMAT

The meeting was divided into three parts according to the nature of the discussion. In the first part was the presentation of Country Background papers. Six such papers were presented. These articles were used to provide the basis for discussion that brought out the important issues relating to the objectives of the meeting. In the second part of the meeting, several working groups were set up to examine the following issues: Relevance, Quality Assurance and Model Engineering programmes. The deliberations of the working group sessions culminated in a set of recommendations which were submitted to the general group meeting for discussion and approval.

5. OPENING FORMALITIES

The meeting was opened with a welcome address by the Director of UNESCO Nairobi Office, Prof. Paul B. Vitta, followed by a statement on the background, format and Programme of the workshop by the ANSTI Coordinator, Prof. J.G.M. Massaquoi.

6. PRESENTATION OF BACKGROUND PAPERS

During this session the following invited papers were presented by the authors and discussed by the participants:

L. M. Masu

S. B. Kanyanga

S. M. Maranga

I%? A. B. Kunje

H. S. Rughooputh

N. K. Kumapley

D. J. Simbi and 0. S.Chinyamakobvu

Quality Assurance and relevance of engineering education in Africa

Quality Assurance and relevance of Engineering Education at the university of Zambia

Training of Engineering graduates in response to present and future needs for the country: Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) Experience

A critical look at issues affecting quality and relevance of engineering education in Malawi

From continuous quality improvement towards professional accreditation in engineering: The Quest and the Questions.

Some issues relating to relevance and quality assurance in engineering education at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

Quality Assurance and relevance of engineering education in Zimbabwe

4

In general, the papers covered the same themes but for different institutions and countries. The following is a summary of some of the issues that were raised in the various presentation and discussions.

6.1 PROGRAMMES OFFERED

All institutions offered the main traditional disciplines of Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. Some also offered Agricultural, Chemical and Survey/Geodetic Engineering.

6.2 ADMISSION CRITERIA

All except the university of Durban-Westville had rigid admission criteria, with some provision for Technical Diploma holders in some cases. In Durban-Westville, they employ a flexible criterion and a bridging Programme to cater for inequalities inherited from the apartheid era.

6.3 DURATION OF PROGRAMME

Generally this was 4 years of engineering with the first one being common. Where candidates were admitted with 12 years pre-university schooling, one year was spent doing basic science courses before commencing engineering programmes.

6.4 QUALITY ASSURANCE

This was mainly by internal vetting and external examination, and consultation with professional bodies and registration boards. In the case of South Africa there was thorough accreditation of programmes by the engineering council of South Africa.

6.5 PRACTICAL/INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

This included residential workshop training and industrial attachment. In some cases this was formalized with supervision and award of credits.

6.6 CONSTRAINTS

Common constraints include increasing enrollment in the presence of diminishing resources.

7. WORKING GROUP DISCUSSIONS ON RELEVANCE AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

Participants organized themselves into two discussion groups, one on relevance and another on quality assurance. Their deliberations were conducted in parallel. The recommendations from the two groups were then presented to the general workshop where they were discussed again.

7.1 RESULTS OF DELIBERATIONS

The workshop identified a number of concerns which have emerged from studies and observations of existing situations in African Engineering institutions, including the relevance of engineering programmes and the methods of assuring quality of courses. Conscious of the need to ensure improvement in the quality of human resources in the field of engineering in order to establish a firm basis for Africa’s future technological development, the workshop made a number of

5

recommendations in the light of the concerns identified. The following tables list concerns of relevance, and quality assurance and also give the recommendations made to address them.

Table 1: Concerns and Recommendations on the Assurance of Quality in Engineering Education

CONCERNS RECOMMENDATIONS

. Decline in resources (funding)

. Increasing student numbers without corresponding increase in resources, for example:

- Library resources - Laboratory facilities - Lecture space - Places for industrial attachment

l Credibility of engineering education programmes: - Acceptability of graduates by employers

associations. - Acceptability of graduates by regional/international

institutions to undertake postgraduate studies - Registability of graduates with regional/

international engineering professional associations . Absence of legal instrument to carry out/

enforce the accreditation of engineering education programmes.

- Engineering professional institutions - Industry - Society - Academic staff from faculties of

engineering . Limited student participation in the accreditation of

engineering programmes

. Lack of recognition of engineering education programmes by third country professional bodies

. Too few lecturers are registered as professional engineers

. Inadequate quality assurance because of prohibitive cost of bringing external examiners from universities outside Africa

. Examination procedures are not sufftciently complied with

. Lack of formal mechanism for transfer of credits between institutions in the region.

. Absence of Peer mendering of undergraduate students by senior students

. Inability of universities to attract and retain staff

.

Request for more funding from Government, funding agencies, etc.

Laboratory groups should be small enough for effective participation by all students

All engineering education must be accredited by national/regional I professional engineering

National parliament should enact laws to set up accreditation body whose composition must include representatives from:

Students must be accorded a platform/opportunity to make meaningful contributions in programme development and the accreditation thereof. Require protocol of agreement on regional/international accreditation All lecturers must have adequate industrial experience to a level that enables them to register with professional engineering associations. Establish a pool of regional external examiners and modalities for utilizing them.

Establish a check list to ensure compliance

Establish mechanism for transfer of credits

Establish system of peer mendering.

Improvement of terms and conditions of service

6

Table 2: Concerns and Recommendations on Relevance of Engineering Education

CONCERNS RECOMMENDATIONS

. Inadequate industrial input for curriculum review or l

changes to programmes

. Inadequate funds to sustain or conduct industrial l

training

. Inadequate cooperation between industry and .

university on student attachment. . Curriculum reviews are not done regularly .

. Inadequate laboratory/practical training facilities l

. Poor and inappropriate student projects. .

. Inadequate or lack of managerial programmes in l

entrepreneurship and economics

Periodic review of curriculum must be done with feedback from all stakeholders/consortiums, society and workshops Cost associated with industrial training should be shared between industry and universities

Industrial training must be structured and monitored by both industry and university. Curriculum reviews must be done every 4 to 5 years by using independent advisory bodies consisting of interested parties. Effort should be made to upgrade all laboratory facilities. Where appropriate, practical/laboratory training could be supplemented by computer simulation. Student projects should answer real life situations

particularly industrial or societal needs or problem. New programmes in management, entrepreneurship and

economics should be developed and embedded into existing curriculum to develop self employment and skills.

8. WORKING GROUP DISCUSSION ON MODEL PROGRAMMES

After some discussion it was resolved that it would be more productive to have three parallel working groups divided, not along discipline lines but cutting across the board base on curriculum philosophy. These were labelled as:

(a) The Imitative Model (b) The Regional Model (c) The International Model

The workshop adopted the following summary description of these models and the philosophy behind them.

8.1 CONCEFWJALIZED MODELS OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION FOR AFRICA

The strategies used by some of the more successful industrialized countries to lay the educational foundations for their technological development are a guide to the formulation of principles and mechanisms for transforming engineering education in the developing countries of Africa. In these countries there is conscious review of standards, and assessment of the relative position of their educational systems among other rival systems. The general principle under which these countries have operated has been that whatever is devised must be in the best interest of these countries and must put them among group of nations with the highest technological competence.

For too long African countries have held to systems and hardware developed in foreign countries and imported into their countries where they are often operated without regard for incompatibilities

7

evident in the physical and social environments of the source and receiving countries. Over the last twenty years or so, some consciousness of the irrelevance of certain aspects of teaching and research programmes has developed in academic communities in the region. This has stimulated action to review and revise course contents and redirect research focus so that they address African needs and provide an African complexion to imported copies. However, such revisions have not been entirely satisfactory. Products remain largely unattractive to the local and regional job market without time- consuming and expensive re-orientation. They also lack most of the advanced engineering skills to make them competitive in the international job market. This model of educational development can be referred to as the Imitative Model. It is the model which is still popular in African countries which believe that through continuous review and improvement it could be made progressively relevant to country and regional needs.

It is however important to break away from the cycle of dependence which make us lie back and await changes in foreign systems; then react by searching for minor adjustment to suit perceived needs. Such methods of inducing relevance is counter productive to genuine development. Real change will only occur when African universities develop their own model for the region based on a construct devised by committed scholars with creative minds working in collaboration with potential end users. This model can be referred to as the Regional Model. Training based on this model will ensure that products are employable in both the urban and rural job markets; that their intellect will be directed towards the solution of local and regional problems; that their concept of national and personal development will be well adjusted to suit the realism of their environment; and that they practice their profession in a way which demonstrates their love for and willingness to accept responsibility for accelerating change in their society.

In the face of Africa’s current dilemma, it will be foolish to deny Africa’s talented youth access and involvement with the ongoing advancement in technological innovations. Meaningful participation in the mainstream of world technological advancement should be encouraged through the adoption of a forward looking and dynamic model of engineering education. This model which could be termed the International Model will take students through the intricacies of abstract concepts and analysis, exploit their high mental potential and allow them to explore freely the frontiers of knowledge. The output from this model will be capable of competing successfully with products from other internationally recognized institutions. Africa will then have the indigenous capacity for generating new technology, evaluate foreign technology and make correct choices for adaptation and diffusion.

These models could be implemented in separate schemes, or in combinations as determined by circumstances. Programmes reflecting the objectives of each chosen model can be developed with subject preferences and emphases. These programmes should be supported by corresponding quality assurance measures.

8.2. GROUP DISCUSSION

The workshop split into three groups to deliberate on the different models. Expected outputs were recommendations on the length of programmes, identification of key courses, credit systems, entry requirements and quality assurance in as concise a form as possible.

8

8.2.1 Imitative model

It is noted that the engineering education system in place reflect largely the system prior to independence. They should include more social sciences, computer courses and industrial attachment. The quality control should incorporate external examination. The following are recommendations for a model imitative programme:

(i) Entry Requirements 12 years of primary and secondary examination

(ii) Duration of Degree Programme 4-5 years

(iii)Entry into degree programme General (into sciences first) or direct into specific programme

(iv) Course Structure As in the present structure supplemented with computers and information technology

First Year:

Second Year:

Third Year:

Fourth Year:

Fifth Year:

Basic sciences Mathematics Communication skills

General engineering Computing

Specific engineering courses (core courses)

Specific Engineering courses (social sciences)

Specific Engineering courses /project social courses

Industrial attachment is to be outside the semester teaching period.

(v) Assessment methods: use of external examiners recommended.

(vi) Presentation/teaching methods: lecturers, tutorial, laboratory and computer aided learning.

(vii) ZndustriaVPracticaZ Training: To be part of the programme.

(viii)Academic structure: Semester system preferred.

(ix) Course and credit system: Point or credit hour system

(x) Project Dissertation: To reflect real life situations

(xi) Degree classification and awards: Bachelor of science/B.Eng.

9

8.2.2 Regional model

(i) Objective

To produce graduates who are capable of solving regional problems and also participate in creative development activities of the region.

(ii) Entry Requirements

(a) Flexible to cater for school leavers, mature entrants, technical diploma holders and people with long association with technical school.

(b) Must have background in Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry. Deficiencies can be bridged.

(iii)Degree Type

Honours programme to cater for problem solvers and creative minds.

(iv) Duration

Basically five years of engineering courses. Bridging time is outside this period.

(v) Structure

(a) Basic Engineering - 1 year (b) Clinical Courses - 2 years (c) Structured Practical - 1 year (d) Specialization - 1 year (e) Practice oriented (f) Research oriented

vi). Course Content

(a) Basic Engineering sciences courses - 15% (b) Core Engineering courses - 50% (c) Professional and Industrial studies - 10% (d) Structured Practical Experience - 15% (e) Humanities and social studies - 10%

vii) Course Combinations

Most rural areas need an engineer with a combination of special skills. They need a programme which can supply this person.

(a) Need broad based programme which permits multi-specialization.

(b) Arrangement of core courses in second and third years can be biased towards joint courses.

(viii) Quality Assurance

10

(a) All five-year shall be assessed (b) Continuous assessment must not exceed 30% (c) Examinations to be moderated and externally examined by regional personnel. (d) Accreditation to be conducted by an appropriate regional body such as ANSTI, AAU. (e) These should be regular regional consultation between institutions

(ix) Post Graduate Studies:

To ensure optimization of regional resources, taught postgraduate studies should be initially located in identified centers of excellence based on specialization

8.2.3 International model

(i) Objective: The following are the objectives of this model

l Enable students to acquire potential to explore frontiers of knowledge l Ensure students acquire competencies to enable them to compete at the international level. l Produce internationally competitive engineers

(ii) Entry Level - Good A Levels in Mathematics and Physical Science or equivalent

(iii)Duration of Programmes - 4-5 years (10 semesters) leading to B.Eng. (Hons)

(iv) Course Structure l 1st year compulsory to all streams l 7th semester - Structured industrial placement

(v) Course Content: The following will constitute the core courses. l Maths l Computing l Research oriented project l Communication skills l Engineering sciences l Information technology l Humanities l Project (more thorough) l Specialised courses/options offer leading to M.Eng. l Extra loading: at least 6 credits in advanced engineering courses

(vi) Quality Assurance System l Accreditation l External Examination l Regular curriculum review (every 3 years)

(vii) Access to Internet Services

11

9. CONCLUSIONS

The following resolutions were adopted:

(a) The workshop is encouraged by UNESCO’s continuing support for opportunities to examine the problems associated with engineering education in the region.

(b) The workshop has developed three (3) conceptualized model programmes for engineering education. The participants believe that two or more models could be implemented in one institutions if certain conditions are met.

(c) Programmes developed are submitted as skeletons and need to be elaborated.

(d) The entire report should be structured and presented as ANSTI’s view of engineering education in the region.

(e) The proceedings should be seen as ANSTI’s proposal to stimulate discussion between universities and other stakeholders in the development of engineering education in the region.

10. CLOSING SESSION

The Chairman, followed by all the participants, expressed their appreciation of the efforts being made by ANSTI to upgrade engineering education in the region and hoped that this will continue. The ANSTI Coordinator thanked the participants for their efforts and assured them that this is a continuing exercise. In return he requested them to disseminate the recommendations of the workshop and try to move towards their implementation in their instructions.

12

QUALITY ASSURANCE AND RELEVANCE OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN AFRICA

Proj LM Masu Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of Durban-Westville, South Africa.

1 BACKGROUND AND OUTLINE OF THE PROBLEM IN SOUTH AFRICA

1.1 POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS. The population of South Africa is about 43 million, approximately 35 persons per square kilometre. About 5 1 percent of the population is classified as urban. South Africa has a multiracial and multiethnic population. Black Africans constitute 76.1 percent of the population, 12.8 percent are whites, 8.5 percent are known as Coloureds (people of mixed race), and 2.6 percent are Asians. Although blacks make up about 75 percent of South African’s population, they earn only 28 percent of the country’s total income. By contrast, the whites, who make up only 13 percent of the population, earn 61 percent of the income. The income figures for Asians and Coloureds are 4 and 7 percent respectively which correspond more closely with their proportions to the total population. The income gap between blacks and whites, one of the widest in the world, is reflected in many other ways. The average household income of a white family is 12 times that of a black family.

1.2 ECONOMY South Africa is a modem industrial country which exhibits many of the signs of a developing economy, including a disparity in the distribution of wealth and a system overly dependent on commodity products. Until the mid-20th century, South Africa’s economy hinged on mineral and agricultural products. In the second half of the century, a broad-based manufacturing sector developed. During the 1980s the economy of South Africa was hindered by economic sanctions imposed by most nations in protest of Apartheid. Money flowed out of the economy as many foreign-owned companies divested South African holdings. Once political reforms were initiated in the early 199Os, the economy benefited from an end to sanctions, increased corporate investment, and trade concessions. A rebound in agricultural production, which had been depressed by drought, also boosted the economy in the early 1990s. In the early 1990s Gross domestic product (GDP) was $111.8 billion. The manufacturing sector contributed an estimated 25 percent of the GDP while the balance came from minerals, agricultural products, forestry &

fishing and energy. The leading manufacturers include chemical products, petroleum and coal products, processed food and beverages, transportation equipment, iron and steel, metal products, machinery, paper, and textiles.

1.3 EDUCATION The legacy of apartheid in South Africa manifests itself most clearly in education. Although government spending on black education has increased significantly since the mid-1980s at the end of the apartheid era expenditures for white pupils were still about four times higher than those for black pupils. Studies have shown that one African pupil to every sixty white school pupil obtains secondary school passes in Physical science and Mathematics (Amott 1995)’ . The National Commission of Higher Education (NCHE) report cites promotion of access to Science, Engineering and Technology so as to massify access to tertiary education by the year 2005. In fact, in the final report, growth from 800,000 students to 1,500,000 students in the higher education in 2005 is projected.

1.3.1 Engineering According to a National Access and Retention in Science, Engineering and Technology (NARSET) conference held on 14-15 November 1996, 600,000 additional engineers are needed for economic development in South Africa. Currently there are 573,000 Scientists, Engineers and Technologists. Out of these, only 134,000 are engineers and 96 percent of them are Whites, 2 percent Indians, 1 percent Coloureds and 1 percent Africans. However, 19,000 engineers are estimated to have left the country between 1995 and 1996. South Africa has 21 universities and 17 technikons. Of the 21 universities, only 8 of them offer engineering and only 1 of them does not admit students to a special programme.

1.3.2 Policy on Science and Technology The White paper on Science and Technology, 1996 states that science and technology have an important

‘Arnott, A. & Chabane, S., Teacher demand, supply, utilization and costs, Report for the National Teacher Education Audit, EduSource 95/03, December 1995.

13

role to play in the development of all sectors of South African society.

Because South Africa’s economy is characterized by extremely unequal distribution of resources, technology policy must address both the development of indigenous and exogenous science and technology in order to meet the challenges facing South Africa’s people. If possible foreign technology should be imported for use, maintained and extended. Appropriate technology for small and medium-sized enterprises must be purchased, where necessary, from other developing countries. University-based engineering programmes more responsive to the needs of the majority of the people must be developed.

The Reconstruction and Development programme maintains that science and technology policy should pursue the broad objectives of developing a supportive environment for innovation strive to reverse the decline in formal engineering efforts in both private and public sectors; enable appropriate sectors of the economy to compete internationally; ensure that scientific advances translate more effectively into the technological applications in the small and micro sector as well as in rural development; humanise technology to minimise its effects on working conditions and employment* .

It is argued that many of the countries with the highest rates of development have invested in human resource development through engineering education, such as the tiger economies of east Asia (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore) and the newly industrialised countries (Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines). Export-led manufacturing has been central to their growth, and much of this has been in value-added, knowledge-intensive products that have a high science, engineering and technology content. There appear thus to be two factors which determine the success of economic development in a country; the amount and quality of human resources available, and the extent of research and development capacity3 . Both of these are not optimal in South Africa. The government of national unit identified science and technology as one of its key priority areas. For the government to meet its objectives, improvement of quality of human resource provision is necessary for industrial restructuring, away from primary industrial strategies to secondary and tertiary

ZWhite paper on Science & Technology, preparing for the 2 1 st century, 4th Sept., 1996. 3Human Sciences Research Council. 4Piyushi Kotecha, Conceptual framework of the NARSET study and preliminaryfindings, 14-15 Nov.,1995.

ones. Furthermore, such human resources would need to be adaptable and sensitive to the needs of a society in transition, and engineering education would need to prepare graduates appropriately4 .

2 RELEVANCE OF ENGINEERING PROGRAMMES: UNIVERSITY OF DURBAN-WESTVILLE

The faculty of engineering was established in 1979 as a Faculty to cater specifically for the needs of the Indian community in South Africa. The faculty comprises four departments and each offers both undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes, namely, Chemical, Civil, Electrical and Mechanical engineering.

The admission criteria has been relaxed to facilitate access on the philosophy that gate keeping at the entry level will not be stringent while gate keeping at the exit will be absolutely stringent. A faculty public relations committee to reach out the community and sell engineering as a career to prospective students in schools was formed. This is perhaps the greatest challenge faced by the faculty. The system will revert to a merit selection once the schooling system has equalized and there exists equal opportunity for students of all backgrounds. Until then the Faculty is committed to making social redress one of the cornerstones of its admission policy.

University of Durban-Westville is the only historically black university offering engineering and having a science education development programme which is tackling the problems created by inadequate science education in predominantly black schools. Our bridging programme (developmental programme) is responding to the learning problems of students who were not exposed to modem technologies at school. Admission to the programme includes a bursary which covers course fees, residence fees and transport costs.

Four year degrees were first offered in 1982. The faculty modularized its degree programmes in 1997. The modular system has the advantage of multiple entry points and flexibility to tailor the degree system to the needs of the students. It also provides for both acceleration and deceleration through the degree. These curricula aimed at: i) collaborating with the Faculty of Science to

develop a solid basic science foundation ii) updating courses iii) coordinating more closely the laboratory and

lecture material

14

iv) building sufficient and suitable design courses into the curriculum and

v) deciding on the level and extent of social science, humanities and commercial courses in the curriculum.

2.1 RESTRUCTURING EXISTING PROGRAMMES The curricula prior to the introduction of the modular system lacked course related laboratory work. Laboratory courses were only in selected areas and most of the practicals were project oriented and hence investigations limited to the problem of the project. Other curricula divorced themselves from the needs of the students and society by trying to solely develop centres of excellence. It was therefore necessary to restructure the programmes to address these shorcomings.

The restructured programmes came into effect in January 1997. The essential ingredients enshrined in the restructured programmes are: a) creation of a firm grounding in engineering

fundamentals in preparation for both an innovative and creative career

b) development and improvement of problem solving abilities with more emphasis towards the practice of engineering as opposed to science of engineering in order to produce more practical graduates

c) impartation of communication skills for the effective employment of knowledge gained

d) development of the student’s computer literacy level

e) placement of the engineering profession in the broad perspective related to its mission to service society through exposure to general courses in humanities, management, law, accounting and social sciences.

2.2 NEW PROGRAMMES AND COURSES

In South Africa, there are more than 15 branches of engineering, namely, Aeronautical, Agricultural, Air conditioning & Refrigeration, Automobile, Chemical, Civil, Control, Electrical, Electronic, Industrial, Marine, Mechanical, Mining, Mining Resources & Management, Metallurgical, Processes & Materials, etc. Each of these branches respond to a particular need of the industry.

The “hunt-gatherer” ability is well-developed in South Africa. If a need for a specific product is identified and

agreed on, South African industry excels at finding and implementing the technology to produce it5.

This observation by Ronel Nel et al is a clear indicator of the level of development of the South African Industry. South Africa therefore may not need to add new engineering programmes to the existing ones but the need for new subject matters to the core engineering programmes should be addressed as and when it arises to enhance industrial development.

2.3 TEACHING OF PROGRAMMES The throughput in the Faculty of Engineering over the last 3 years has been low with pass rates below 70 percent. This situation is partly attributed to our teaching methods. Handling ill prepared students can be a tricky issue for academic staff who have not been trained to teach as it is normally the case with engineers. It is therefore necessary to introduce programmes to teach teachers how to teach in order to improve pass rates. Staff should then be encouraged to attend these courses.

It is my opinion that emphasis should be put on practical work in addition to laboratories and projects.

3 QUALITY ASSURANCE Engineering education does not operate in isolation from the society which it serves. Employers are demanding that graduates have a wide range of skills and capabilities relevant to the workplace inter alia - communication (particularly oral), analysis and problem solving, interpersonal, enterprise, use of information technology, self-reliance and adaptability. A degree is one of many life-time learning opportunities rather than the one opportunity with which it was traditionally viewed.

The idea of quality embraces the activities through which a faculty or department satisfies itself that the quality of education it provides and standards it has set are appropriate and are being maintained6 . Quality is therefore multi-dimensional and contextual bound. Hence it can be viewed as satisfaction of the client or fitness for purpose.

SRonel Nel & Cecelia de Vos, Manufacturing and Construction, vol. 6 No. 3, 1993. 6Jackson, N., Evolution of Quality Assurance in UK Higher Education 1987-1997 and beyond: creating a regulatory framework for a mass system, Quality Assurance Workshop at UDW, 29-30 May, 1997.

15

3.1 EXISTING SYSTEMS OF QUALITY ASSURANCE

3.1.1 Criteria for credit, promotion and exclusion Credit awarding requires an overall pass mark of 50%. Course work constitutes 25% of this final mark while 75% comes from the final examination. In addition a student is required to achieve a “Duly Performed” (DP) symbol on the overall performance during the semester to be allowed to write the final examination. Missing lectures or labs disqualifies the student from getting a DP symbol. This however is at the discretion of the lecturer concerned. In the design courses the final mark consists of 60% examination mark and 40% course work. In courses of a project type only (e.g the final year project) the student is expected to submit a report instead of the final examination and the course work is allocated by the departmental academic committee which follows up the student progress regularly during the semester. Promotion of students to more advanced courses depends on meeting prerequisite conditions as specified in our detailed syllabi. A final course mark between 45% and 49% or a DP of 60% or above entitles the student to write a supplementary examination. Nevertheless with the recommendation of Faculty executive committee, Senate executive committee can approve special examination sessions to students even if they don’t meet the above criteria for supplementary examinations. Students are excluded from the programme if they (i) do not complete 3 or more courses in two years of study (ii) cannot complete the programme in six years of full-time study.

The problem with this system is that students tend to miss lectures, or are not attentive in lectures preceeding any test. This may happen when students want to raise high DPs so that they can automatically qualify for supplementary examinations. Consequently final examinations are not taken seriously. This problem may be overcome by classifying degrees and encouraging competitiveness by way of incentives such as monetary rewards etc., or having officially scheduled dates for assessment tests.

3.1.2 Procedures of examination and internal/external examiners Each department applies checks and balances in the examination process. All final year courses or non-final year terminal courses are subject to moderation by external examiners. A terminal course is the last course in a series of courses belonging to the same sub- discipline. All other courses are subject to moderation

by a second internal examiner from the faculty of engineering, or if relevant, from another faculty. The marks allocated are discussed in an examiners meeting in the department and thereafter in a meeting at the faculty level, which can be a meeting of the examiners or a meeting of the Dean and the Heads of the departments. If approved, the Head of the department offering the course signs the mark sheets and reports the final mark to the examination section.

The problem with such a system is that accountability is checked once in a four year programme. I would like to see external examination done at least twice within the four year period.

3.1.3 Modus operandi of the final year project. Prior to the beginning of the first semester every year the academic members of staff are requested to present a list of topics for final year projects including well formulated specifications. The proposed topics are discussed in a meeting of the departmental academic committee and necessary modifications are suggested. The rationale behind the approval of the topics by the academic committee is to keep the standards of all projects at the same level of difficulty. Once modified and accepted by the committee the topics and specifications are posted on the departmental noticeboard. The students requests from this list are normally accepted if no conflicts exist, otherwise the project coordinator (member of academic staff) allocates the projects under dispute. Initially the students progress is monitored fortnightly by the academic committee and the students are requested to present their projects in a seminar or an oral progress report on regular dates. Between these presentations the students are expected to consult regularly with their supervisor who monitor their progress. The students submit an interim report on the progress of the project at the end of the first semester and a mark is allocated by the supervisor and submitted to the external examiner for moderation. A final report is submitted at the end of the second semester, a mark is then allocated by the supervisor and moderated again by the external examiner. This practice does not apply to the departments of Civil and Electrical engineering where students are examined on completion of their projects without follow-up in the course of the semester.

Although a lot of the work done by the student is well known by the supervisor, it is possible that the external examiner can be biased by the mark awarded by the internal examiner. It would be wise to allow the external examiner as much independence as possible.

16

Secondly, the project assessment approach favours small sized classes. As numbers become large, it becomes extremely difficult to achieve set objectives because of time constraint. Students will have to share projects. However, this causes another problem of quality assurance because the reports and final assessments must reflect the individual student’s ability.

3.1.4 Accreditation’ The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) is empowered by an Act of parliament (No. 114 of 1990) to accredit engineering degree programmes to determine the programmes that are recognised for registration purposes, thus avoiding the need to evaluate graduates individually. ECSA may therefore take steps to influence engineering education in the interest of the public, Engineers in training and Professional Engineers. The list of accredited degree programmes is made available to industry and the public.

ECSA will consider for accreditation bachelors degree programmes in engineering of four year minimum duration (assuming 12 years of schooling) at South African Universities provided that the programme has; adequate mathematical foundation; adequate appropriate physical science foundation; adequate engineering science content; additional elements which introduce the student to the wider professional, social and economic environment of professional engineering activity; emphasis on design and synthesis; and significant design and/or laboratory/investigational project work in the final year.

ECSA may grants the following classes of accreditation:- Full accreditation for a maximum period of five years. Graduates of fully accredited programme who complete their degrees during this period are afforded recognition. Regular accreditation evaluations are undertaken on a five year cycle.

Conditional accreditation is awarded when a programme has been identified to have deficiencies which affect the standard of the degree but which can, in ECSA’s opinion, be remedied in a reasonable time. Conditional accreditation is awarded for one, two or three years. Graduates of conditionally accredited programmes who complete their degrees during this period are afforded recognition. Conditional

‘Accreditation manual, Engineering Council of South Africa, 1990

accreditation may be extended provided that meaningful improvement is achieved. Maximum period of extension is five years. Conditional accreditation may be converted to full accreditation as a result of re-evaluation visit. Full accreditation granted by conversion of conditional accreditation is valid for the remainder of the five year period.

Provisional accreditation is mainly awarded to new degree programmes whose students have completed the second year of study. Provisional accreditation indicates to the university and the students in the programme that those parts of the programme already implemented are considered satisfactory and the planned further implementation is likely to result in accreditation of the programme. It is granted for a maximum period of three academic years.

It may be converted to a full or conditional status by means of an evaluation visit - the first regular visit - which will take place once the graduates have been produced. Graduates during the period of provisional accreditation are granted recognition retrospectively.

Accreditation granted in any of the three categories may be reviewed if major changes are made to the programme during the period of accreditation. The Accreditation Committee for University Engineering Degree Programmes (UAC) is responsible for most aspects of accreditation.

Withdrawal or withholding of accreditation. Accreditation of an existing programme is withdrawn if the programme has become so deficient that the university can not reasonably be expected to remedy the deficiencies within a reasonable time or is unwilling or unable to do so. When an existing non-accredited programme is judged to be so deficient that full or conditional accreditation is withheld, ECSA may set a minimum time appropriate to the circumstances before a reapplication for evaluation may be made.

3.1.4.1 GENERAL CRITERIA FOR ACCEPTABILITY

OFDEGREEPROGRAMMES. Guidelines ( not absolute requirements). Factors considered are: * Programme objectives, structure and content. * Quality, of teaching and learning, standard of

examinations and exit standards achieved. * Quality, numbers and commitment of the academic

staff and quality of the departmental leadership.

17

* Qualities acquired by the students. * Adequacy of resources to support the

programme. * Environment in the department and faculty.

3.1.4.2 STANDARDS Engineering is an international activity. ECSA, therefore, expects engineering graduates from accredited programmes to meet internationally recognised standards for professionally recognised engineering degrees.

3.1.4.3 PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES, STRUCTURE

ANDCONTENT The programme must have clear objectives and a rational structure. It must provide students with basic mathematical, scientific and engineering knowledge and a problem-solving ability.

3.1.4.4 SUPWRT(SERVICE)COURSES Principally to provide the mathematical and physical science base, cognate engineering disciplines, broaden the engineering student’s perspective beyond engineering in social sciences, economics, law and management etc.

3.1.4.5 COMMUNICATION SKILLS Development of written and oral communication skills, proficiency in report writing and in oral expression. Evidence should be presented that the engineering staff give adequate attention to these matters.

3.1.4.6 LABORATORY WORK Courses must be supported by meaningful laboratory work, well co-ordinated with the lecture material and performed using suitable up-to-date equipment. The student should gain significant experience in experiments involving hardware and physical phenomena.

3.1.4.7 ROLE OFCOMPUTING Computing is an essential part of the engineering education experience, consequently all engineering graduates require computer literacy together with skills specific to branch of engineering.

3.1.4.8 DESIGN AND SYNTHESIS Engineering courses should be taught in the context of applications and design. Courses should expose the student to a proper mixture of analysis, synthesis and conceptual design.

3.1.4.9 FINALYEARPROJECT The quality of the project work is indicative of the quality of education leading up to it and the level of written communication ability that the student has developed. Final assessment must reflect the individual student’s ability.

3.1.4.10 TEACHINGANDLEARNING Encouragement of good learning behaviour in the students consistent with the professional orientation of the programme. Teaching approach should develop in the student an ability for self-acquisition of knowledge and information.

3.1.4.11 PRACTICAL TRAINING WITHIN THE

PROGRAMME Practical training or employment during vacations is essential.

3.1.4.12 ACADEMIC STAFF A minimum number of committed and competent teaching staff with demonstrable professional abilities in teaching and engineering practice is essential. The required number depends on; the number of courses that have to be taught; the number of students; the spread of expertise and experience needed to cover the range of formal courses that have to be taught; effective teaching of small groups in design and tutorial classes; avoidance of heavy teaching loads which prevent staff involvement in curriculum development, research and industry through contract research and consulting; provision of career and programme counselling to students.

3.1.4.13 STUDENTS Desirable qualities. Problem-solving attitudes and abilities, good morale and commitment to the programme. Admission standards. Selection criteria consistent with the majority of students being able to complete the four year programme at the expected standard in a reasonable period. Resources. Sufficient, teaching assistance, technician and workshop, administrative and secretarial staff. Laboratories and equipment. Laboratories equipped with modem and representative equipment; facilities and adequate staff to work with small groups of students per experiment. Computing facilities. Modem computing facilities for solving engineering problems, CAD, document preparation, office automation, electronic mail, etc.

18

* Running expense budget. Adequate to ensure the smooth running of the programme.

* Library facilities. Sufficient numbers and variety of books for supplementary course reading and to support design and project work, comprehensive range of journals covering the discipline and good and efficient library service.

4 PROPOSAL An institution is in need of comparing programmes and courses with similar named programmes in its own country and even more with programmes in foreign countries. The reasons are twofold (i) first, it offers students-to-be the possibility to make a choice what to

study and where to study (ii) secondly, bench-marking a of programme, especially with similar programmes abroad, is wanted, because standards never can be checked in a national context only8. Therefore it is important for institutions to have a reference point abroad to be able to know the value of their programmes in international perspective. To be creditable, award for quality is essential. This will also eliminate the need for individual evaluations in the region. Therefore I am of the opinion that the award for quality in the region is essential and if need be the region should join the Washington Accord of Engineering Accreditation or any other international quality assurance body.

8Vroeijenstijn, A. I., Advantages and disadvantages of comparative quality assessment, Paper prepared for the 4th meeting of the INQAAHE: Quality without frontier, South Africa, 26-28 May 1997.

19

QUALITY ASSURANCE AND RELEVANCE OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA *

S. B. Kanyanga; Dean of Engineering, University of Zambia,

l? 0. Box 32379, LUSAKA, Fax 2660-I-253194, E-mail: kanyanga@eng.unza.zm

1.0 INTRODUCTION Zambia is situated in the Central and Southern African Region. It is a land locked country with an area of 750,000 square kilometres. It attained its independence from Britain on 24th October 1964. Zambia is the most urbanised country in Sub Saharan Africa. This number is steadily increasing as the rural dwellers move into towns in search of better living conditions. The average annual population growth of is over 3 % and the population is about 9 million people, with 60 % of them being in urban areas. The most densely populated areas are situated along the railway line passing through the Southern, Lusaka, Central and Copperbelt Provinces. The major cities are Lusaka, the Capital, Ndola, Kitwe and Livingstone. The world famous Victoria Falls is in Livingstone.

Until 1975 Zambia was one of the most prosperous countries of Sub Saharan Africa. Zambia has been ranked as fifth among the world’s copper producers. The export of copper and cobalt contributed more than 90 % of the export revenues for many years. However, from 1975 onwards the world copper and cobalt prices made a dramatic fall and in combination with increasing oil prices, Zambia’s major import product, there has been a continuous economic decline. The total external debt stands close to US $ 7 billion. The monthly inflation rate is invariably around 3%. The GNP per capita is in the region of US $ 320

A political multi-party system was introduced in 1991. After a reign of 27 years, the UNIP party led by Dr Kenneth Kaunda lost the elections and the leader of tbe Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), Mr. Fredrick Chiluba became president in November 1991. The new Government is developing new strategies to cope with tremendous problems Zambia is facing. In order to minimise the negative effects of the new, more market oriented policies, a Social Action Programme (SAP) has been launched in close consultation with the international donor community. Visible signs of progress are being seen in most areas of development.

One major result of the SAP is the privatisation of companies previously owned by the Government. There

is a now a new breed of investors who are keen on maintaining good standards so that they can be competing with the rest of the world in product quality. Issues of quality are being discussed in general fora.

The need for engineering graduates has been steadily increasing. This has been also affected by the number of engineers leaving the country for greener pastures. A survey (1) carried out in 1992 by the School of Engineering showed shortfall of about 1,000 engineers in the employment sector. This number has no doubt increased given that more engineers have left the country and the industry’s needs are growing every year. The existence and expansion of the School of Engineering at the University of Zambia is therefore matter of national importance.

The School of Engineering, now comprising the Departments of Agricultural, Civil, Electrical and Electronic, Mechanical Engineering and Surveying, was established on 1st May 1969. The first five students, however, enrolled when the University of Zambia opened in 1966 and in 197 1 all of them graduated.

A Bachelor of Engineering degree of the University of Zambia is awarded upon successful completion of a five-year programme of study. Students are admitted to the School of Engineering on a competitive basis after completing the first year in the School of Natural Sciences where they consolidate their knowledge of the basic sciences, particularly in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. Currently, the annual enrolment into the second year is between 90-100 which represents about 65 percent of those students who select engineering as their first choice.

Mindful of the importance of practical training, the curriculum includes a compulsory period of about three months of industrial training. Thus, the last two long vacations before graduation are spent in industry and the work is assessed in conjunction with supervisors in industry. By this scheme, the student observes the practical application of the principles taught in the classroom, experiences some of the responsibility given to engineers, and learns engineering techniques.

20

2.0 RELEVANCE

2.1 EXISTING ENGINEERING PROGRAMME The School of Engineering is one of the nine teaching Schools at the University of Zambia. It has a population of some 450 students. The students start their University studies in the School of Natural Sciences. There, they pursue courses in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. They, thus, enter engineering in the second year. The engineering students have to take these basic courses in science and mathematics because in Zambia secondary education ends after the equivalent of ‘0’ levels in the British system. The first year at University is to some extent equivalent to ‘A’ level studies. In fact those with ‘A’ level ‘passes’ do enter directly into second year of study. The second year is common to all students in the School. This covers the fundamentals in mathematics, mechanics, material science, electricity, workshop technology and drawing. After second year the students branch into the live fields of specialisation. The largest number goes to Mechanical Engineering (30%), followed by Electrical and Electronic Engineering (28), Civil Engineering (22%) with Agricultural Engineering and Surveying taking equal numbers of about 10% each. Normally, these numbers are affected by direct entry students who already have some specialisation. Diploma holders are also admitted directly to the School of Engineering.

Until 1988, the second and third years were common to all branches of engineering. Since then, only the second year is common, a change that reflects the desire of the School to continue to give adequate treatment of individual disciplines in the light of fast and important technological changes. This is also testimony of the country’s industrial development.

During remaining three years students mainly follow courses in their field of specialisation. However, there are still some common courses in certain groups as can be seen in the Appendix . The common courses are Mathematics, and Engineering Management and Society. Industrial training as mentioned in the introduction is also common except that the training is in the relevant field. The full programme can be found in the School Handbook (2).

To facilitate the growth of engineering education in Zambia and to maintain its national relevance, the School of Engineering has developed a close association with industry and government. Many of the academic staff are members of relevant governmental committees.

On formal basis, the School of Engineering Advisory Committee, which draws its external membership from government, industry and the professional institutions, meets regularly to discuss matters that are pertinent to the smooth running of the School.

2.2 NEW PROGRAMMES Zambia is a developing country whose industrial base has been on copper mining. However, the chemical industry, for both household and industrial chemicals has developed over the years. Therefore it has now been established that there is urgent need for a Chemical Engineering programme

The plan for Chemical Engineering is immediate. Preliminary discussions with donors have taken place. It is hoped that programmes in Chemical Engineering would start around the year 2000.

The School has also plans for introducing new programmes at the post-graduate level. There are three departments with post-graduate programmes as shown in the Appendix . The departments of Surveying will need to plan for higher degrees in Surveying and Geodesy. The department of Agricultural Engineering is planning to start programmes in Post-Harvest Technology and Irrigation Engineering.

2.3 NEW SUBJECTS A subject that requires to be introduced in core programmes is the use of computers. The computers have a great flexibility in that they give the opportunity for simulations of real life situations. The School will have to invest more in software to allow modelling of systems. In the current curriculum review, the use of computers is being incorporated in most courses. The new curriculum will be implemented in 1998.

2.4 PROGRAMME PRESENTATION There are a number of ways of presenting materials to students. These are formal lectures, tutorials, laboratory exercises, project work, seminar and so on. The University of Zambia uses all the above mentioned. There are formal lectures usually of 4-hour duration, with 3-hour tutorial per week. Courses with practical content have 3-hour laboratory sessions per week. There is no special emphasis on any of these but if there is insufftcient attendance and participation on the part of the student for less than 80% of the scheduled sessions then such a student may be barred from writing examinations. Projects are usually handled through seminar presentations by the students and production of a dissertation.

21

The School has also looked at computer aided learning (CAL), especially in Electrical and Electronic Engineering were some software has been procured. To some limited extent there had been some CAL applications in lower year mechanics courses. The use of computers to solve problems is encouraged. Students are familiar with most software and data bases used in engineering.

2.5 OTHER ISSUES The relevance of any programme demands that it addresses the national or regional issues and also attends to the universality of University education. The majority of the graduates would under normal circumstances work within the country or region. Hence there is a need to reflect the requirements of industry. In developing the curriculum the stakeholders must be consulted.

Therefore, the basic ingredients of a relevant programme without going into the actual subjects, would require, .

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The infusion of basic scientific and engineering principles Sufficient grounding in mathematics The participation and input from the Professional Engineering Institution The input from industry, major companies or agencies in power, construction, mining, manufacturing, planning, and design The consideration of the manpower requirements of the country Industrial training Project Work Delivery through formal lectures Economic Aspects, Management principles and the role of the engineer in society Practical laboratories and tutorials Continuous assessment system Examination process that adequately assesses the knowledge of the students

3.0 QUALITY ASSURANCE

3.1 EXISTING SYSTEMS The University of Zambia attaches a lot importance to quality assurance for its academic programmes. The quality assurance starts with the type of is students that are accepted for studies in Engineering. As pointed out earlier, the Engineering students start their University education in the School of Natural Sciences. After highly competitive examinations, the cream joins the’ School of Engineering.

The University has an external examination system in place. Each academic department brings in an external examiner every year. The examination papers are sent to the external examiner for moderation well before the examination itself. The comments are discussed at departmental level and suggestions incorporated in the final examination. There is also internal moderation within the School by having two examiners for each course.

The External examiners are also invited at the time of examinations and during processing of examination results. They talk to a sample of students, on the knowledge they have gained. They also hold discussions with individual lecturers. In addition they attend the departmental meetings that discuss the examination results. They also are present at the Board of Studies and Advisory Committee meetings at which they air their comments. At the end of it all, they present a confidential report to the Vice Chancellor. This report is further discussed at the departmental and School level and forms the basis for further improvement of quality.

The Engineering Institution of Zambia (EIZ) has also an input into the quality assurance. It has to recognise the B.Eng. Degree as satisfying its academic requirements for membership. However this recognition is subject to review periodically. Membership of EIZ is essential for registration as a practising engineer in Zambia.

3.2 NEW SYSTEMS The weakness of the system is that at times there are no funds to bring external examiners to the School. There have been occasions when examination papers were not forwarded for moderation because of lack of funds. In the case of internal moderation the absence of senior personnel in some specialisations renders the system weak.

The system of ensuring quality as described above has proved to be very effective. However, one way of ensuring quality is by having a number of senior people in the School, with vast experience. At the moment only about 20% of the academic staff are of senior lecturer and professorial rank. In one department, there is no one above senior lecturer in rank. It is, therefore, important that for the University to maintain high standards it should improve its conditions of service to attract senior academics.

Quality depends on the input. One key area of the

22

delivery of knowledge to engineering students is laboratory work. In this area the quality of technical staff is important. At the University, due to limited funds, the up-grading of skills for technical staff is limited. There are new techniques and equipment in a modem laboratory and in order to ensure quality, the University should expose its technical staff to regular courses. There should also be a deliberate policy to engage more graduates to man the School laboratories as opposed to the present system where most of then are diploma holders. At the moment there is only one graduate member among the technical staff.

In the case of academic staff, there is need to train them in didactics and teaching skills. There are very few lecturers who would have undergone formal training in teaching methodology. At the University of Zambia, there is a deliberate policy to train lecturers in this field. The School of Engineering, through donor assistance has started the scheme . There is a four year programme to train all lecturers in the School up to the year 2001.

3.3 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EXISTING AND NEW SYSTEMS The present system of quality assurance and the proposed additions complement each other. The present system has maintained quality over the years and is still appropriate in a University setting. The proposed additions ensure that the delivery of the course material is also of a high standard. This further ensures international recognition of its programmes.

3.4 RECOGNITION OF QUALITY One of the most pleasant of the rewards for excellent quality is the acceptability of the product, the graduate in this case, by industry and other Universities in Africa and abroad. Graduates from the School of engineering at the University of Zambia have not only been accepted for higher studies in America, Europe, Australia, Asia and elsewhere in Africa but have successfully completed higher studies in their Universities and some cases, they have even excelled. Others have taken up employment. This is clear testimony that there is acceptable quality assurance in the training system.

However, quality can also be rewarded through recognition of institutions excelling in it by regional and international networks by offering scholarships for staff or students to undertake studies in such Universities. The other way is by sponsoring special joint programmes. The academic would appreciate a more direct approach and that is through the creation

and sponsorship of endowed positions or chairs. As a way of sharing the experience, the networks could also set up funding for sabbaticals in institutions that excel in quality assurance.

It should be noted that quality does not come cheap. Universities have to recognise its importance and invest in it to gain the international status that is expected of them. There should be both human and material resources to sustain quality.

3.5 OTHER ISSUES A very important issue on quality assurance is that related to the stability of the academic schedules. More often than not, there have been a number of cases of Universities closed due to student class boycotts or staff strikes. There have been instances where Universities have closed for more than a year. This disturbs the acquisition of knowledge by students and can affect the quality of the graduates. Institutions should try to minimise such situations by ensuring academic and industrial harmony, through dialogue and consultation. Governments in some cases have been responsible for these incidents as they are the major funders of University education and their policies may not have been palatable to the academia or the student population.

4.0 CONCLUSION The issues of relevance and quality assurance are paramount in an education system that has been developed by outsiders. In Africa, most countries adopted a system that works well in aid countries. It is therefore important to re-assess, as has been done in this paper, the significant of engineering education. However, from the forgoing, it is apparent that there are safeguards on relevancy because of the input from industry, government and appropriate contacts that are made by the School. The involvement of external assessors, ensures that quality assurance is maintained.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

The author would like to thank the ANSTI and UNESCO for organising the Workshop and bringing Deans of Engineering together to discuss the important subject of Relevance and Quality Assurance. He is also grateful to the University of Zambia for according him the opportunity to prepare this paper and attend the Workshop. Thefinancial assistance from UNESCOfor attending this meeting is greatly appreciated.

23

REFERENCES 1. Report on the Survey of the Needs for Graduate

Engineers in Zambia, the School of Engineering, University of Zambia , Lusaka, 1992

2. The School Handbook, the School of Engineering, University of Zambia , Lusaka, 1995-6

24

TRAINING OF ENGINEERING GRADUATES IN RESPONSE TO PRESENT AND FUTURE NEEDS FOR KENYA : THE JKUAT EXPERIENCE**

Prof S. M. Marangu Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Jomo Kenyatta Universi@ of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) Kenya

ABSTRACT

The prevailing demands on the knowledge and skills of graduates from engineering faculties require that they satisfy the needs of the ever increasing complex structure of industry, and be readily creative to venture into self-employment while being involved with the design and development of techniques and machinery at the forefront of knowledge of science and technology. However; with the available funding at the universities it is not possible for the engineering schools to meet a considerable proportion of the specific requirements of both the industry and the society.

The paper highlights the undergraduate syllabus at JKUAT 9-11% of the required units involve workshop practice and training in the faculty and industry; involvement of industry in evaluation of students on attachment is stressed; and candidates have the option to read a unit in entrepreneurship. The structure of individual programmes is appraised using charts to reveal the proportion of sciences and mathematics, social sciences, and core courses specific to the engineering discipline. In terms of accreditation the engineering professional and registered bodies are involved during the development of the syllabuses and subsequent implementation and reviews. The students throughout the study period interact with industry through formal attachment and activities of the society affiliated to the Engineering Institution. The informal feedback from industry on the pe@ormance of the graduates together with the placement rates have so far been good indicators of a satisfactory programme. The paper also enumerates some proposals to improve the quality of engineering education. These include effective teaching, cost effectiveness in practical training and interdisciplinary lectures involving out-of-campus speakers as well.

1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The industry which absorbs a considerable proportion of the graduates from engineering faculties demand to a large extent that the training they get be such that these degree holders can readily (and without further training) be put into the respective mainstream of the production activities of the industry. On the other hand the technology is changing so fast that in some instant a half life of the engineering knowledge has been quoted as low as 2 l/2 years. Industry will need to respond to these challenges by incorporating the changes in their set up, if they are to stay in business. The quality of the graduates from the engineering departments will no doubt play a big role in the expected transfer of technology. In the last few years we have noted that engineering graduates are going without employment for several months. As a result the society has wondered why these graduates have not been able to create

** Paper for presentation at UNESCO/ANSTI Workshop on Quality Assurance and Relevance of Engineering Education in Africa, Nairobi, Kenya 2&21 November 1997

employment for themselves as well as for the others. In the process, they argue the ventures will lay the foundation for an industrial infrastructure. This line of the informal sector will of course be characterized by an input of high technology.

The University has a duty to produce high level man- power for the industry and the informal sector, but at the same time maintain the international reputation of her degrees. The engineering faculties, however, are not oblivious of the needs of the industry and the dwindling employment opportunities of the graduates. The design of engineering curriculum is such that there is enough time for the students to acquire the necessary knowledge to enable one to work in the respective industrial set up with a minimum time of adjustment or training. They have been exposed to several aspects of the relatively advanced and new technologies through classroom exercises and experiments in the laboratories and in a few cases in the workshops.

25

It is also noted that Universities are working on constrained budgets which in most cases do not cater for the purchase of capital equipment which is vital for any engineering training. As will be noted in the programme at JKUAT, the courses are designed in such a way that the graduate can fit fairly well in the respective industry with minimum training on the job.

In case of self-employment and being generally creative, adequate time has been allocated for hands- on experience on machines and workshops in the faculty and in industry. However, the objectives of the programmes cannot be realized fully without resources and conducive environment. There is need for regular consultation between universities, industry and the government to balance the views of the parties involved in the training of the engineer. The attitude of each one of these towards the graduate is critical. The university understands that this country will need a band of qualified engineers to build up the necessary infrastructure for the industrialization - a must if we shall be in the forefront of designing and manufacturing machinery.

2. STRUCTURE OF THE ENGINEERING DEGREE AT JKUAT

The Faculty of Engineering comprises of the following four departments: Architecture, Civil Engineering, Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering. Except in Architecture, the students read B.Sc. in Engineering. The department of Agricultural Engineering is in the Faculty of Agriculture. Besides the degree programmes, the Faculty admits students for university diplomas in each of the 4 departments. The rest of this paper will however, concentrate on the 5-year degree programmes in Civil, Electrical/ Electronic and Mechanical Engineering.

In 5 years, the student reads for 10 semesters of 16 weeks each and undergoes industrial training sessions for a total of 24 weeks. The average contact hours per semester varies between 450-500 hours. The titles of the units read by each of the students are shown in figures 1 - 3. The inter-relationship between the various units are also indicated. Tables 1 - 3 and Charts l-3 give the breakdown of the required units into major subject areas, namely : Civil Engineering, Electrical/ Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, basic Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science. In the 1st year of study students in all the three departments read units in basic sciences, mathematics and computer science. The first year students read one (1) unit in Civil Engineering; students taking Electrical/ Electronic

26

Engineering degree courses also read 1 unit in their department in the 1st year. In case of Mechanical Engineering 30% of the first year units are taught within the department. These units are in materials science, technical drawing and workshop practice.

In the 3rd, 4th and 5th years of Civil Engineering, 8 l- 87% of the units in each year are taught within the department. In Electrical/Electronic Engineering 68 - 81% of the units required by the student in each year are taught by the department. In Mechanical Engineering, 75% of the units in the 4th year of study are taught within the department, the rest of the units being in mathematics and social sciences.

Charts l-3 show that out of 80 units required to graduate : students in Civil Engineering read 67.5% of the units within the department; student in Electrical/Electronic Engineering must undertake 58.75% of the units from that department; and students in Mechanical Engineering need 66.25 % of the units from the department.

In Civil Engineering the student has a choice to select 4 units of the required total of 80 units. In Electrical/ Electronic Engineering the student can opt for light or heavy current by specializing in 12 units (i.e. 15%), and a student in Mechanical Engineering can opt for automotive or production engineering by specializing in 4 units (i.e. 5%). The proportion of the optional units are illustrated further in Charts 4-6.

From the analysis it is evident that the student spends a large proportion of the time reading courses in the selected disciplines. This is supported by a fair number of units in mathematics. In each department students must have hands-on experience in computers, particularly in the CAD/CAM packages. The graduates from the degree programmes can readily be absorbed in specialized industries involved in design and manufacture of machines or other engineering structures as well as in the respective non-specialized organizations. The social science subjects enable them to fit into the complex set-up found in industries as well as playing effective roles of supervisors.

3. PRACTICAL AND INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

Each student undertakes 2 or 3 semester units of workshop practice within the Faculty of Engineering. Each unit comprising of 6 hours per week is assessed through practicals, continuous assessment tests and

Table 1. BSC. (CE) : BREAKDOWN OF REQUIRED DEGREE UNITS INTO MAJOR SUBJECT GROUPS

MAJOR SUBJECT GROUP YEAR OF STUDY

FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH FIFTH ALL ,.r.rTr LlVlL

ENGINEERING 1 (6.25%)

SCIENCE (PHY & CHEM) 4 (25%)

MATHS 5 (31.25%)

MECHANICAL ENG 2 (12.51%)

ELEClELECTRONIC ENG -

COMPUTER SCIENCE 2 (12.5%)

SOCIAL SCIENCE 2 (12.5%)

OTHERS -

12 13 14 14 (75%) (81.25%) (87.5%) (87.5%)

3 2 (18.75%) (12.5%)

- -

1 - (6.25%) -

- - - -

1 1 (6.25%) (6.25%)

- -

1 2 (6.25%) (12.5%)

54 (67.5%)

4 (13.75%)

11 (13.75%)

2 (2.5%)

-

2 (2.5%)

7 (8.75%)

-

TOTAL UNITS 16 16 16 16 16 (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%)

Table 2. BSC. (E/EE) : BREAKDOWN OF REQUIRED DEGREE UNITS INTO MAJOR SUBJECT GROUPS

80 (100%)

MAJOR SUBJECT GROUP YEAR OF STUDY

FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH FIFTH ALL CIVIL

ENGINEERING 1 (6.25%)

SCIENCE (PHY & CHEM) 4 (25%)

MATHS 4 (25%)

MECHANICAL ENG 4 (25%)

CIVIL ENG -

10 11 12 13 47 (62.5%) (68.75%) (75%) (81.25%) (58.75%)

- - - - 4 (5%)

3 3 3 - 13 (18.75%) (18.75%) (18.75%) - (16.25%)

1 1 - - 6 (6.25%) (6.25%) (7.5%)

- - - - -

COMPUTER SCIENCE - 2 1 - - 3 (12.5%) (6.25%) (3.75%)

SOCIAL SCIENCE 3 - - 1 3 7 (18.75%) (6.25%) (18.75%) (8.75%)

OTHERS - - - - - -

TOTAL UNITS 16 16 16 16 16 16 (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%)

27

Table 3. B.SC (ME) :BREAKDOWN OF REQUIRED DEGREE UNITS INTO MAJOR SUBJECT GROUPS

MAJOR SUBJECT GROUP YEAR OF STUDY

FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH FIFTH ALL

CIVIL ENGINEERING 5 10 13 12 13 53

(31.25%) (62.5%) (81.25%) (75%) (81.25%) (66.25%) SCIENCE (PHY & CHEM) 4 - - - - 4

(25%) (5%) MATHS 4 2 2 2 - 10

(25%) (12.5%) (12.5%) (12.5%) - (12.5%) CIVIL ENGINEERING - - - - - -

ELEC/ELECTRONIC ENG - 2 1 - - 3 (12.5%) (6.25%) (3.75%)

COMPUTER SCIENCE 1 2 - - 1 4 (6.25%) (12.5%) (6.25%) (5%)

SOCIAL SCIENCE 2 - - 2 2 6 (12.5%) (12.5%) (12.5%) (7.5%)

OTHERS - - - - - -

TOTAL UNITS 16 16 16 16 80 80 (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%)

Table 4. PRACTICAL AND INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

YEAR UNITS DURATION APPROX HOURS REMARKS

1 2 2 Semesters 168

2 1 1 Semester 84 Only ME* 2 8 weeks 320

3 2 8 weeks 320 4 2 8 weeks 320

Total 9* - 1212*

* In case of CE and E/EE total equivalent units are 8 which correspond to 1128 contact hours

examination. In all the departments, students at the end of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years undertake industrial attachment each lasting a minimum of 8 weeks. As shown in Table 4 and Charts 7 and 8, the total number of hours allocated for practical training is 1128 - 12 12 or as a percentage of equivalent total units undertaken in5yearsis9- 11 %.

The first set of attachment is within the Faculty Workshops where the students undergo intensive training in the use of various equipment. The other two take place in suitable industry. One of the objectives of the industrial attachment is to give the

students an opportunity to get hands-on experience in a real-life situation in industry. The practical experience expected in each of them is progressive. In the final attachment, the training is expected to be in a specific area of specialization. The evaluation which is on a pass/fail grade is based on the students log-book and a summary report, industrial based supervisors report and assessment by an academic staff member who must visit the student at least once during the attachment period. The attachment is governed by a set of approved rules and regulations. The industrial based supervisor must endorse the log-book at the end of each week of training.

28

__-...-

4. RELEVANCE OF PROGRAMMES TO INDUSTRY

During the initial development of the curricula and the subsequent reviews the Faculty involves industry through formal and informal meetings. In each year the Faculty has been in existence there has been regular forums involving industry, government and university to exchange views on the syllabus and the quality of the training. For a period of eight (8) weeks every year the Faculty places 350 students in industy for practical attachment. Regarding employment the first batch of graduates numbering about 90 had been absorbed by industry and public sector within a period of one (1) year. However, the employment of the second group that completed the course a year ago had been slow. This is largely due to the prevailing economic and political situations which have had adverse effects on production activities.

5. QUALITY ASSURANCE

To ensure quality of the programmes and consequently the certificates, the University has taken several measures including : (1) External examiners moderate both the

examination papers and subsequent handling. (2) The syllabuses are accredited by the Engineers

Registration Board of Kenya. (3) Recruitment of staff is rigorous. (4) Teaching staff are expected eventually to be

registered engineers. (5) Research projects per staff ratio has been used as

an indicator of the research activities. (6) Library stock is added on continuous basis. (7) Courses have distinct lectures, tutorials and

practical sessions. (8) All students use computers to prepare final year

projects. (9) Departments establish formal linkages with their

counterparts in institutions within the country and overseas.

(lO)The University holds annual meetings with industry.

6. SOME PROPOSALS FOR CONSOLIDATING THE PROGRAMMES

As a means of consolidating the programmes the Faculty has in place some proposals. These include :

(1) Effective teaching. After considering the factors which contribute ideally to effective teaching, it is hoped to introduce staff evaluation methods by self and the students.

(2) Faculty Based Industry Liaison Office The cost implications of the industrial attachment to the student, the University and the industry is of concern particularly in the light of the cost- sharing concepts. The follow up of the performance of the graduates to be charged to the office will also facilitate the review of the syllabuses.

(3) Interdisciplinary lectures As a way of evoking creativity of the students and graduates the Faculty has been organizing lectures by out-of campus speakers. The approach in some of them is expected to be philosophical.

(4) Self-employment ventures The Faculty encourages the final year candidates to audit a unit on Entrepreneurship Skills or attend an intensive 40-hour self-employment programme on “Graduate Business Start-up Programme”.

(5) Faculty Industry Linkage Through continuing education, seminars and several other forums of interaction between industry and the university education, the Faculty expects to keep the graduate informed of the latest in the technology as well as facilitating the use of existing knowledge.

7. CONCLUSION In general the degree programme at JKUAT has been accepted by the industry as evidenced by the employment rate of the first lot of graduates.The programmes in Civil,Electrical/Electronic and Mechanical Engineering have taken into consideration the needs of existing and upcoming industry and the changing employment patterns of the past few yearsThe Engineers Registration Board of Kenya has accredited the programme for registration. The entrepreneurial optional courses/topical lectures in the final year is expected to increase the number of graduates opting for self-employment.

29

A CRITICAL LOOK AT ISSUES AFFECTING QUALITY AND RELEVANCE OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN MALAWI

WA. B. Kunje. Dean, Faculty of Engineering

University of Malawi

l-BACKGROUND

COUNTRY Malawi is a landlocked country in Southern Africa which boarders Tanzania in the north, Zambia in the west, Mozambique in the south east and south west. It obtained independence from the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland on July 6, 1964. For 30 years, Malawi was ruled by a one party system of government under Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda until the democratically elected government in June 1994 under multi- party pluralism.

INDUSTRIAL BASE AND ECONOMY Malawi has no mineral deposits of significant proportion for exploitation as opposed to other countries in the region. For 30 years, the economy was driven by the sell of agricultural products mainly Tobacco, Tea, Ground nuts and others. Estate agriculture account for about 7 % of Malawi GDP. Tobacco and tea still remain the most foreign earners of foreign exchange. As such the industry is basically agricultural with tobacco processing industries constituting more than eighty percent of the industry. Over the years there has been a significant increase in other manufacturing areas in basic commodities but the increase has not been tremendous until the liberalisation of the economy in 1994.The industry has seen a remarkable increase in finished goods as many foreign and local investors have invested in manufactured goods. Manufacturing still depend on imported raw materials. Prior to this, there was low investment in industry related manufacturing due to an conducive and unclear investment policies and no enabling environment for Research and Development ( R&D ).

Because of the growing concern of Tobacco hazards world wide especially Europe who constitute the majority of tobacco buyers, Malawi has now realised that the tobacco industry will no longer remain the principal earner of the economy. At the recent workshop organised by the Commonwealth Science Council for setting National Priorities for Research and Development, experts in R&D in Malawi ranked mineral exploitation on the Return on R&D for

Malawi, 0.8 Feasibility and 6 Attractiveness indicating a strong will to invest in mineral exploitation than before. Plant production and processing ranked second while water management and industrial development ranked third and fourth respectively. This indicates that Malawi industry will see a sudden increase in the manufacturing and mineral processing sectors than before. Such increase will also put strain on the meagre energy capacity of the country.

UNIVERSITY OF MALAWI - THE POLYTECHNIC The University of Malawi was established by Parliamentary Act in October 1964. It initially operated as Chancellor college in Blantyre. In 1970 two constituent colleges were established namely Bunda college of Agriculture in Lilongwe and Malawi Polytechnic in Blantyre. In 1979, a fourth college, Kamuzu college of Nursing was established to train nurses in Lilongwe. And in 199 1 a fifth college, College of medicine in Blantyre was established with its main campus situated at the referral hospital in Blantyre, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. In 1973 Chancellor college was moved to Zomba into a bigger campus. It is the main campus offering degrees in Humanities, Science, Public Administration, Law, Social Science and education. The University Act of 1974, spells out the structure and the functions of the University. It provides for the objects of the University among others as: 1. To advance knowledge and to promote wisdom

and understanding by engaging in teaching and and research.

2. To engage in such university education and research as is responsive to the needs of Malawi and and Africa.

The administration structure comprises The Chancellor, Chairman of Council, Vice Chancellor, University Registrar, College Principals and Members of University Council. Other senior officers include the University Librarian and the Finance Officer. The academic structure comprises Senate, with its committees, Deans, Heads of departments and all teaching staff. The rationale for the appointment of

30

administration of the University seemed until the multiparty era political expediency. Faced with this situation, an uncertain vision, an inefficient utilisation of allocated resources and a funding crisis, many experienced academics have moved ( are moving ) elsewhere in search of better conditions, thus eroding the critical skeleton required for research and teaching. To date the University has graduated over 15, 000 individuals.

The Department of Engineering, at Malawi Polytechnic as it was called after the establishment of the college under the University of Malawi run a three year Diploma in Engineering which was general in nature teaching all aspects of engineering( civil, electrical, mechanical ) to a technician level. At such time, because of the undeveloped industrial base, these graduates fitted very well. They were basically working as maintenance technicians alongside their craft counterparts. In 1980 it became apparent that as a constituent college of the University it needed to upgrade its programs to degree level. The program was instituted in 1980 as a six year BSc. Program in Engineering. It was also general in nature. Alongside the program, the college still graduated students with a Diploma in Engineering. In 1985 the programs were developed to specialist programs in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering.

Various surveys and studies on past graduates employed in Malawian industry including the University of Malawi Tracer study of 1985, indicated that most degree graduates when employed do maintenance work for a considerable length of time when initially employed. Most companies prefer employing technician level graduates as opposed to engineering graduates. In Appendix 1, the distribution of graduates by level of qualifications for the University of Malawi show that of the 14,219 graduates of the University, 7, 067 are diplomates while 6,039 are first degree holders. The distribution of graduates by discipline indicates the majority are in Agriculture ( 21 % ), while in engineering it is only 13%.In most engineering related firms, managerial positions are always held by other professions.

RESEARCH PROBLEMS In a consultancy study on proposed links between the Polytechnic and Industry by Mr. Hugh Thomson and Professor Alan McGown of University of Strathclyde in 1992, it was reported that the Polytechnic the only engineering training institution in Malawi concentrates on the education of undergraduates such that its

laboratories are equipped primarily for educational purposes and not able to undertake contract work for industry. Academic staff also reported that teaching load is too high to allow research work to be undertaken. This results in relatively low levels of in the institution research funding available and an absence of a research infrastructure as compared to other constituent colleges.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS Institutional and staff development of the Polytechnic has lacked behind other colleges. Bunda college of Agriculture has eighty percent of staff holding PhDs while the Polytechnic Engineering faculty has only 5 PhD Holders. This is explained by the country’s preference and insistence on developing the agricultural sector. The faculty of Engineering has never modernised its teaching facilities including laboratories since 1980 despite changing its programs twice since then. Most equipment is now obsolete or non functional and in irreparable state. The University of Malawi recruit local academic staff by first recruiting undergraduates as Staff Associates. These Staff Associates are then given scholarships to study for masters and doctorate degrees in outside universities using financial assistance from the Commonwealth, USAID, Fulbright and others. More than 90 % of all staff in the University were trained in this manner. Upon completion, they are offered teaching posts immediately. Many others have in many instances not returned home, picking up jobs else where in the world. As such, engineering lecturers have no industry( Malawian ) related and teaching experience.

STAFF APPRAISAL PROBLEMS Lecturers in the University of Malawi, have two functions, teaching and research. Promotions depends on these two components, but most lecturers concentrate on the teaching aspect of their function because of: . lack of research tools ( due to low staff

development > . lack of equipment . engagement in activities that satisfy their

physiological need . lack of clear policy on balance between research

and teaching

As a result of the above, most engineering lecturers find it difficult to get promoted to senior positions in the University. This has led to low staff morale and de- motivation.

31

ENGINEERING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS Malawi Board of Engineers, the only engineering regulating professional body in the country is too weak in addressing issues related to the development of the engineering profession in the country. The body, instituted by government has since independence comprised of members who are political appointees and not necessarily in the profession. The Board’s act which needs amendment has never been reviewed. The number of practising engineers in the country has increased so much, most of them are not registered under the Board and most practice in absence of regulatory guidelines.

STUDENT NUMBERS The number of engineering students between 1964 and 1980 increased by over 40 percent. Between 1980 and 1995 this figure has remained constant against a low investment in institutional teaching capacity. There has not been any rigorous evaluation of demand factors to match industry manpower development against the capacity for the faculty to adequately deliver . Enrolment has depended mostly on factors related to pressure from government for increased enrolment to appease the public. This has strained existing engineering teaching facilities. Additionally, the University does not appear ( even after the advert of Democracy ) to be sufficiently insulated from political interference in its admission policies.

OVER DEPENDENCY Since its inception the Malawi Polytechnic has always dependent on funded links from British Council and ODA to finance expatriate staff, external examiners, new courses and curriculum development for most of its programs including the Engineering program. Even in these circumstances, there were incidents when it was even impossible to invite external examiners to examine in person. During the transition to multi - party politics, during which ODA suspended aid to Malawi in 1992, the institution was unable to invite external examiners to examine. This affected the quality of engineering graduates. Only recently has the University of Malawi made it mandatory that except where a departments have a funded link, all external examiners must be source from the continent.

TEACHING FACILITIES AND COURSE WORK The lack of well trained laboratory technicians, broken down obsolete laboratory equipment, lack of calibration and repair facilities, and lack of technician development

appraisal systems has also affected the quality delivery of engineering education at Malawi Polytechnic. As a result most lecturers do not include laboratory work in their teaching. In addition, there has not been any Faculty’s regulatory policies on laboratory work because the faculty thought lecturers will normally augment their theory with laboratory work or practice Over the years, there has been debate over how student course work should be assessed and integrated with examinations into a meaningful grade. The problem with course work is the definition of what constitute course work. Is it set homework, laboratory work, quizzes, projects etc. ? How much course work contribute towards the final grade depends to a great extent what a lecturer defines as course work. In the absence of a proper definition and guidelines of what course work is, course work assessment will continue to influence the validity of the student grade and hence the overall assessment of students. This is very pronounced in engineering education where laboratory and practical work is fundamental to achieving vocationally oriented skills to meet industrial needs. Coupled with the increase in class sizes, many lecturers disregard course work and laboratory work in their assessment altogether.

STUDENT ATTACHMENT Our undergraduate engineering students have always been sent to industry on industrial attachment in years two, three and four of the five year program. The purpose is to complement their studies with real life situations in environments related to the profession upon completion of their studies. Over the years, it has been found that the relevance of the exercise has not been taken seriously by both students, Faculty as well as industry because of the way it was run ( not compulsory ) and the Faculty could not be able to find placement for all students. This was largely due to large student numbers and unwillingness of companies to take students on attachment because of increasing fees associated with the exercise. As such, benefits of industrial attachment exercises on our programs has yet to be seen and appreciated.

LACK OF STUDENT TEXT BOOKS The price of prescribed engineering text books has increased five fold since 1980. Students book allowances has only increased once since then. Students are thus unable to purchase text books to supplement class work. This is true in any branch of engineering world wide. Most lecturers have had to photocopy prescribed texts for placement in the library for student reference which has not been effective. It is

32

not unusual therefore for lecturers to teach without reference material in some courses.

The foregoing background, industrial base, politics and nature of demand of engineering graduates and problems connected with engineering education at Malawi Polytechnic confirms the doubt Malawi industry has on the quality of our engineering graduates which has been encored through various media in the country. Our own surveys have also indicated to the same effect.

2. RELEVANCE

As engineering is a vocational career much of our effort as providers of the engineering education should be tailored to providing relevant manpower for industrialisation which in turn provides social economic development and requirements for societal problems. Apart from the universality of the profession and industrial concerns, relevance of a country’s engineering education will differ according to the structures of industrial bases and country’s priorities in terms of research and developmental needs. The student needs and interests seem to be factors affecting admission, performance and manpower supply and demand needs of industry. Programs will continue to toll this line. In addition because of increasing demand in industrial mechanisation and structure, our programs should be able to adjust accordingly. In light of the above, relevance of engineering education in addition to the usual academic relevance of traditional programs must address the following issues: l Country’s priorities of research and

developmental issues . Student needs and interests . Student innovative and logic thinking . Student attachment reforms aimed at addressing

industrial changes . Program flexibility able to respond to impulsive

changes in a particular national industry. . Entrepreneuship

COUNTRIES PRIORITIES FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT(R&D ) There is growing concern in many circles of the depletion of many resources used in various countries. Much can be gained from determining priorities for the meagre resources available to government based R&D for socio-economic development. The need to prioritise is urgent for countries with very little resources available like Malawi, where most socio-economic programs are funded through donor aid. It is generally

accepted that in the absence of clear guidelines, Institutions involved in R&D development tend to make their own inferences about national needs and act accordingly. With priorities set, nations as a whole and their R&D performing agencies in the public and private sectors use programs and mechanisms to effectively use meagre resources available for socio-economic development of their peoples.

The principal goal of R&D in a country must make a major contribution to sustainable socio-economic development in a manner which promotes efficiency, competitiveness, economic diversification and applicability of the R&D effort. Research and Development in Science and technology in any country is supported by strong, good quality and relevant engineering programs. To be relevant our engineering programs must conform and meet national priority areas mapped in R&D in science and technology.

As an example, in June 1997, Malawi initiated a process to set priorities for the nation R&D efforts in Science and Technology. 72 challenges were identified as challenges facing Malawi which were clustered to 17 R&D purposes for science and technology. These were: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Minerals Plant production and processing Industrial development Water management Environmental degradation Energy Animal production Education Physical infrastructure Value to waste Health Social development Technology management Indigenous agriculture Fisheries Manufacture Information technology and telecommunication.

The process set out to prioritise the above areas resulted in results tabled below: R&D cap = R&D capture R&D pot = R&D potential RDC* RDP = R&D capture*R&D potential = Feasibility Ab to cap = Ability to capture Pot ben = Potential Benefit ACT * PB = Ability to capture * Potential Benefit = Attractiveness

33

Attractiveness and Feasibility are then plotted to produce Return on R&D in Science and Technology for Malawi indicating areas of priorities in which we would base relevancy of our engineering programs.

STUDENT NEEDS AND INTERESTS Experience has shown that student performance in engineering courses is partly influenced by their ambitions and interests in the programs. Most likely students response to reasons of failure although there are other reasons would be lack of interest in the course. This explains why other programs attract a lot of students while others do not. What is seen as relevant by students is not the same as the faculty’s view.

STUDENT INNOVATIVE AND LOGICAL THINKING Student innovation and logical thinking is a major cause of creativity in student achievement in industry. Our students fail to make decisions based on logical judgement and and fail to produce innovations based on engineering education. Student Attachment programs Student proceed for attachment to industry to complement their learning with real life situations at the work place. Student attachment programs must be well co-ordinated by both the faculty and industry to be effective. The following questions relate to the relevancy of student attachment programs: . When should our students proceed on attachment ? . How long should the attachment last ? . How should we find out if industrial attachment

is effective or not ? . How do we assess student attachment ? . Who is responsible for student attachment? . What policies should we adopt to make student

attachment sustainable?

PROGRAM FLEXIBILITY A relevant program should be flexible to cater for changes in national priorities in R&D in science and technology, industrial changes in technology advancement and addressing other issues of importance in engineering. A rigid program can not address these issues.

ENTREPRENEUSHIP In most countries there is a problem in unemployment. This is evidenced by the periods our graduates stay after graduation. It is recognised world wide that one way of alleviating this problem is to instil graduates with entrepreneuship skills to enable them form engineering based businesses.

The faculty of engineering intends to modularise its programs and develop new programs to reflect requirements of national priorities R&D in science and technology, entrepreneuship, logical and innovative thinking and be able to respond to changes in industrial requirements.

3. QUALITY ASSURANCE

EXISTING SYSTEMS The faculty of engineering started offering the diploma in engineering in 1964 which was general in nature, a graduate program in engineering general as well in 1983. Later a five year graduate program in specialised areas was introduced with close collaboration with University of Huddesfield in the UK.

Each department appoints an external examiner who examines either in person or by post. He then prepares a report addressed to the Vice Chancellor who in turn asks heads of departments to make comment and respond to the examiner’s comments. The responses are sent to Academic Courses Committee. The comments are then to University senate for ratification.

The faculty’s programs are reviewed every five years. Each departments invites an industrial assessor. The industrial assessors also assesses final year student projects with other members of the department and prepares a report on quality, level, standards of the projects that year.

THE PROBLEMS WITH THIS PRESENT SYSTEM IS AS FOLLOWS: . Assessment of students takes a long time l No method of quantified assessment of quality . Because of costs involved in inviting examiners,

many are not invited to examine in person . There is no formal standard in external

assessment because each department is assessed as directed by individual external examiners.

NEW SYSTEMS The University of Malawi has embarked on a reform program in Administration, Finance, maintenance, Student Living and Academic administration. In addition The Malawi Polytechnic has initiated an action plan aimed at utilising its existing resources economically by year 2005. The following are some of the recommendations affecting quality assurance:

. All Deans are being given executive status. They will act as chairmen of Faculty based senates

34

with own rules for admissions and assessment and other factors relating to senate. All staff research and publication finding will be decentralised. All external examiners will be sourced from the region. The faculty will look for a recognition body in the region to recognise its programs internationally. Student attachment programs will be part of the curriculum, assessable by both the faculty and industry. Students will do a project based from his/her attachment activities. Staff will be attached to industry through the Faculty Industry Liason unit which will also co- ordinate staff research and consultancy.

For recognition of quality the faculty intends to develop collaboration with interested faculties in form of link programs to act as peers in checking quality standards in each other’s faculties.

REFERENCES 1. Commonwealth Science Council document for

Malawi’s process for setting priorities for R&D in science and technology

2. University of Malawi reform study report 3. The Polytechnic, The future. 4. A report on proposed links between the

Polytechnic and industry, Hugh Thomson University of Strathclyde.

35

SOME ISSUES RELATING TO RELEVANCE AND QUALITY ASSURANCE INENGINEERING EDUCATION AT KNUST, GHANA

Pro& N.K. KUMAPLEY Dean, School of Engineering

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology Kumasi, Ghana

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a short historical sketch of the development of engineering education in the Gold Coast (and later Ghana) since the 1930’s. In pursuit of its objective of ensuring the relevance of its courses to the needs of industv, the School has maintained mutually beneficial linkages with industries which are the main consumers of its products. This arrangement does not only bring financial rewards to the School but has also enabled the School to relate its programme to the needs of local industry to the extent consistent with the basic mission of an academic institution.

In the area of quality assurance, the School operates a system of regular peer review of course structure and content as well as examination questions and scripts. Recent innovations include regular students, evaluation of staffperformance and review of the examination process.

It has finally been suggested that a happy balance has to be found between the contents of “hard” engineering courses and non-engineering (social sciences and humanities) courses in the curriculum for training the African engineer of the 21st Century.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Engineering education in the then Gold Coast dates back to the 1930’s when in August 193 1, the Colonial Government requested Achimota College in Accra to organise an engineering course to train Africans for senior appointments in the Public Works Department, the railways and later, the mines. The course, which was based on the External degree syllabus of the University of London, consisted of four and a half years of study at Achimota, followed by between three and four years of structured post-graduation practical training. Initially, the course offered at Achimota led to degrees in electrical, mechanical and civil engineering, but with the expansion of activities in the mining sector in the Gold Coast, it became necessary for the School to expand its course offerings to include mining engineering.

In spite of the difficulties it experienced, the Achimota Engineering School managed to turn out a total of twenty-five engineers before the start of the Second World War compelled it to shut down.

These engineers were to play key roles in the immediate post-independence development of Ghana and also

served in other African countries as well as working for international agencies.

With the establishment of the University College of the Gold Coast in Legon, Accra in 1948, university education was phased out of the Achimota College campus. Unfortunately, no provision was made for the transfer of the engineering courses to the new University College, hence the training of engineers was interrupted between 1948 and 1952 when a School of Engineering was again established as part of the new Kumasi College of Technology and the equipment, and some staff of the Achimota Engineering School transferred to Kumasi to form the nucleus of the new school.

From 1952 to 1955, the School of Engineering prepared its students for membership of the various professional Institutions in the United Kingdom. The formal training of graduate engineers of various specialisations commenced in 1955 in special relationship with the University of London and students were prepared to take Parts I, II and III of the University of London Bachelor of Science (Engineering) External degree examinations.

36

The first professional engineers produced by the campus, not only to demonstrate the economic Kumasi School of Engineering, who were all civil viability of products developed by the staff but engineers, graduated with University of London also as a major income generating activity (e.g. External B.Sc. (Eng.) degrees in June 1959. The School the traffic lights production unit, the well-pump of Engineering began to award its own engineering production unit and rural sanitation production degrees in June 1964. unit, among others);

Between 1959 and 1997, the KNUST School of Engineering has produced a total of 2951 graduate engineers including 67 women. The breakdown, by specialisation, is as follows :

* undertaking contract research, often under inter-university co-operation agreements with funding from external support agencies, and more recently,

* Agricultural Engineers * Chemical Engineers * Civil Engineers * Electrical Engineers &

Electronic * Geodetic Engineers * Mechanical Engineers

268 246 927

628 262 620

* contract training and organisation of continuity education programmes for specific industries and agencies.

It must be noted that these figures do not include geological engineers and mining engineers produced by the Institute of Mining and Mineral Engineering which is a separate entity from the School of Engineering.

While these activities contributed immensely to easing the cash flow problems of the School of Engineering, the linkages developed during this period of “forced” contact with industry enabled the School to relate its programmes to the needs of local industry over the years, although it must be admitted that there is always room for improvement, when things are viewed from the point of view of industry.

2.0 RELEVANCE OF ENGINEERING PROGRAMMES AT KNUST TO NATIONAL NEEDS

The cost of training these engineers in other countries, if Ghana did not have a School of Engineering must surely be a measure of the School’s contribution to the economy of Ghana!

1.1 DEVELOPMENTS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION AFTER INDEPENDENCE Engineering education on the Kumasi campus enjoyed relatively active support from government in the immediate post-independence era, especially in the area of the provision of physical and academic infrastructure and staff development. However, as the economy of Ghana ran into difficulties from the mid 1970’s to the late mid 1980’s, the then Faculty of Engineering, like other sections of the University, experienced a decade of severe under-funding and was compelled to seek other sources of supplementing government support. Some of the measures adopted included the following:

Relevance of engineering programmes to the needs of industry has sometimes been interpreted as a situation in which the products of an engineering programme are to be trained to be of immediate use to industry after little or no post-graduation training. Pressures, therefore, tend to be put on African engineering faculties to cut down on the content of the theoretical aspects of their courses in favour of vocational aspects - pressures which are, in turn, often fiercely resisted by engineering educators. Yet, engineering programmes in African Universities stand to gain tremendously when there is active co-operation between engineering educators and the principal consumers of engineering manpower based on mutual respect and clear appreciation of the roles of the various stakeholders.

* forging mutually beneficial linkages with industries which rely largely on graduates of the school;

* institutionalising consultancy activities 0 f academic staff with a relatively liberal profit- sharing formula;

* establishing ‘production units’ mainly on

In assessing the relevance of engineering programmes to the industrial needs of their host societies, it has to be recognised that, while most African engineering faculties, particularly, those in Anglophone Africa, have adopted engineering education formats which are designed on the assumption that the products of the engineering faculties would, on graduation, move into a structured post-graduation industrial training phase, often supervised by the relevant professional body, the reality is different. Largely on account of the inactivity

37

or poor organisation of the national professional bodies, relatively undeveloped industrial base or unavailability of experienced engineers in industry to exercise supervisory roles, young graduate engineers in many African countries find themselves thrust into positions of enormous professional responsibility without the benefit of structured industrial training.

In discussing the issue of the education and training of engineers in developing countries, KWAMI (1990) wrote “the period of education and training of an engineer must be recognised as extending into industry, and, therefore, a University cannot fulfil1 completely the demand ofproducing graduates who will be perfect engineers in the restricted period of a $-year basic university programme. A University can, however turn out graduates who have the requisite theoretical knowledge and the proper orientation towards the practical requirements of the engineering profession (in their countries)“. Clearly, the task of making the education and training of engineers relevant to the needs of industry should not be the sole responsibility of the University, but should be the concern of the engineering educators, on the one hand, whose main role should be the exposure of the engineering students to the basic theoretical grounding essential for engineering practice, and the other stakeholders, namely, the professional bodies and industry on the other hand who must put in place viable structured post-graduation industrial training schemes and continuing professional development programmes designed to ensure that the practising engineer keeps abreast with the latest developments in his field.

Close collaboration between town and gown is essential in attaining the goal of producing engineers who have adequate theoretical background coupled with adequate exposure to local engineering practice, as well as the ability delay the onset of “technological obsolescence” which afflicts practising engineers in Africa much earlier than their counterparts elsewhere.

Industry-University Linkage In pursuit of these goals, the KNUST School of Engineering has, over the years developed a good working relationship with the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE) and with some major industrial consumers of its products, through formalised mutually beneficial co-operative agreements.

Staff of the school have been actively involved in the programmes of the Institution while practising

engineers are often invited to give seminars and take part in the formulation and examination of final year student design and research projects. The School of Engineering has also concluded a formal co-operative agreement with the Volta River Authority (VRA), a major electrical power utility company in Ghana. Under this symbiotic relationship, the VRA :

assists the School with the placement of its students during vacation training periods; provides facilities to the School for staff and students to undertake periodic visits to important engineering project sites, such as the on-going Thermal Generating Plant at Aboadze in the Western Region of Ghana; initiated a programme of equipping selected laboratories of the School; and has, in Fact, procured new laboratory equipment for some laboratories of the department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in addition to transferring equipment no longer in use by VRA to the School. refers problems requiring specialist attention to the School for solutions (eg. repair of fault locators and the solution of the problem of the detrimental effects of blasting in mining areas on VRA installations;) and collaborates with the School in the organisation of seminars, particularly, those relating to efficient utilisation of electrical power.

The School, in turn, put its expertise at the disposal of the Authority, particularly in the field of consultancy requiring specialist skills and the organisation of continuity education programmes. The two institutions meet regularly, twice a year, to review progress and plan programmes for the future.

Another major industry, Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has also sometimes, invited the School to send groups of students to its establishment to take part in its annual planned maintenance operations where periods of such activities do not coincide with examination periods. Other department - specific linkages also exist with industry. On the whole, the relationship between the KNUST School of engineering and most major engineering industries in Ghana is fairly cordial, and this has enabled the School to accommodate the views of industry in its periodic reviews of course structure and content to the extent possible, given the mission of the School, as an academic institution, to promote knowledge.

38

2.1 STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF ENGINEERING PROGRAMME A major consideration in the issue of the relevance of engineering programmes to the needs of industry is the structure and content of the programmes. In the early 1960’s when the KNUST School of Engineering started awarding its own engineering degrees, the structure and content of its programmes were, naturally, closely related to those of the University of London External degrees which our students took in the early years of engineering education at the Kumasi campus.

Over the past three decades, the School carried out a series of reviews of course structure and content, the latest of which became effective at the beginning of the 1995/96 academic year. In carrying out these reviews, the School of Engineering was guided by the following objectives:

. to impart requisite theoretical knowledge in engineering science to an acceptable standard and to balance it with appropriate practical training courses which clearly emphasise local peculiarities and constraints in engineering practice in Ghana;

. to design the degree programme in such a way that most of the engineering fundamentals are covered mid-way through the 4-year programme so as to afford the students the opportunity to be exposed to limited specialisation and also to enable the students execute final year projects of substantial engineering content;

. to sensitise the student to the environmental consequences of engineering activities early in the course, so that they can relate his subsequent activities to the environment;

. to use teaching methods that enable the student to develop the attributes of creativity and analytical mind, the approach and the techniques for solving new problems as well as develop appreciation of the importance of decision- making in engineering practice.

The current course structure is relatively more flexible than the previous one sand features the introduction of more non-engineering courses, open electives and final year options which permit limited specialisations at the undergraduate level. These changes were effected largely in response to representations received from industry.

An analysis of the new course structure for the Civil Engineering degree given in the table below, shows a significant increase in the humanities and social science content, compared with the previous course structure. The idea is to produce engineers who can deal as effectively with human issues as they do with technological issues.

Naturally, there was a lot of resistance from the traditionalists initially to the introduction of these “non- engineering” courses into the programmes of the various Departments. However, it is hoped to expand the contents of these courses in the future because African engineers generally assume positions of responsibility much earlier in their engineering careers than their counterparts elsewhere and, therefore, need to have a sound grounding not only in “hard” engineering subjects but also in the area of non-technical subjects dealing with human relations.

%COURSE CREDITS

Core Engineering Engineering - Related Courses Courses

Humanities and Social Sciences

Previous

Course Structure Current Course

Structure

1”’ Year 65 35 0 2nd Year 69 31 0 3” Year 92 8 0 4fi Year 57 43 0 1”‘Year 63 21 16 Pd Year 56 38 6 3’* Year 90 10 0 4” Year 39 32 29

39

3.0 QUALITY ASSURANCE IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION

The School of Engineering of KNUST operates a system of quality assurance based on the exposure of its examination process to regular peer review through the appointment of Moderators and External Examiners for all Departments in addition to periodic review of the examination process. Other features of the quality assurance process include student evaluation of staff performance, annual assessment of staff output which is intended to assist staff development and proposals to introduce pedagogic training for newly appointed academic staff. Some of these issues are examined in greater detail in the following sections:

3.1 PEER REVIEW OF THE EXAMINATION PROCESS Traditionally, the School of Engineering has operated a system of quality assurance based on the appointment of a Moderator for each Department, assisted by a team of external examiners appointed from outside the University and internal examiners who are the teachers of the various courses. The duty of the Moderator who is appointed for a three-year term, is to undertake periodic review of the general structure of the course and is expected to visit the Department at least once during his tenure. During such a visit, he is afforded an opportunity to evaluate the state of adequacy of the academic infrastructure, especially, classroom space, library space and stock, the condition and adequacy of laboratory equipment and level of computer access. Past question papers and sample student examination scripts comprising the best, average and worst student performance in each subject are also made available to him for review. He is also given the opportunity to interact with students in the absence of any academic staff, and also with academic staff without the head of the Department being present.

The Moderator reports directly to the Vice-Chancellor who, may, when he deems it necessary, refer all or part of the report to the Dean for his comments.

The external examiners, on the other hands, are subject specialists whose duties are to determine whether:

* the course content is relevant to the present state of knowledge in the particular subject area;

* the examination questions are balanced and fair; and

* the coverage of the examination papers reflects the content of the syllabus.

They used to perform these duties before the examinations were written but when, in the late 1970’s the University changed from organizing one sectional examination a year to two end-of-semester examinations during an academic year, , it was only possible for the external examiners to carry out post- mortem reviews of the examination papers and scripts. Nevertheless this system provides an effective check on academic standards.

3.2 INTERNAL EXAMINERS In addition to the operation of the system of Moderator and External Examiners, the University also insists on the appointment of two internal examiners for each course. The rationale for this insistence is not only to ensure peer-review of the questions, but also to provide continuity in case the main examiner is, for any reason, not available when the paper is written.

Incidentally, the principal internal examiner is expected to submit his draft questions, solutions and marking scheme to the second internal examiner for review, but, in reality, this system does not work too well because of pressure of time and academic jealousies!

3.3 PERIODIC EVALUATION OF THE EXAMINATION PROCESS On the whole, the examination systems works fairly well, with the relatively few examination malpractices which occur attracting severe sanctions after exhaustive investigation. However, attempts are made on a continuing basis to improve the evaluation process , the latest attempt being made in the past three years.

After operating the current examination system for almost a decade, the School, in 1994, organized a one- day workshop at which academic staff trained in various countries presented papers on the systems of examination operated in the Universities they attended. After an exhaustive discussion of the merits and demerits of the systems of examination used in Russia, Canada, Israel, USA, France and Germany, it was concluded that the present system best suited our circumstances. It was however, recognized that the rate of development of hand calculators is such that it is becoming almost impossible to prevent the use of calculators with capacity for information storage in memory during examinations.

It was decided that the way forward was to plan towards the organization of “open book” examinations in the future so as to render the storage of information in calculator memory irrelevant during examinations.

40

Arrangements are in progress to get the Faculty of Education of our sister institution, the University of Cape Coast to organize seminars for staff on the setting of papers for open-book examination. In a related development, the School is also actively considering the organization of pedagogic training for new staff. This is in line with the trend in many countries and is intended to improve the delivery of information to students. Other features introduced recently include institutionalized regular evaluation of academic staff by students, and annual assessment of academic staff output which considers not only teaching ability but also research output and other activities relating to promotion of knowledge.

4.0 ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY

The Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 has identified the major challenges of the 2 1 st Century as . Resource Exploitation; . Industrial Development; and . High Population Growth

with the attendant consequences of * environmental pollution; and * land degradation

The engineer of the 21st Century will need to be adequately prepared to cope with these challenges and this will require a substantial increase in the content of the social sciences and the humanities in engineering programmes.

Furthermore, the current societal demands that the future engineer becomes an employment generator rather than an employment seeker are expected to escalate in the coming years, hence the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills will also need to feature prominently in Engineering Curricula of the 21st Century.

Fortunately, it is anticipated that substantial expansion in computational capabilities in the 21st Century will take some of the drudgery out of the work of engineers, thereby, creating space in the course structure to

accommodate the enhanced social science and humanities content of engineering programmes.

As noted earlier, the School of Engineering has shown itself to be alive to these concerns by significantly increasing the non-engineering content of its courses in the latest review of course structure. In addition to the introduction of opportunities for students to take elective courses from other faculties, especially in law, economics and financial management, the new course structure also features such new courses as :

l Communication Skills; . Introduction to the Environment; . Technical Report Writing; . Entrepreneurial Skills; and . The Engineer in Society.

There is still room for improvement, however, since such highly relevant issues as safety in engineering construction and maintenance of engineering structures and installations are yet to find adequate coverage even in the new course structure.

It is also anticipated that the technological gap between the developed and the developing world will become even wider in the 21st Century, thus, making engineering training even more situation-specific.

This will mean that African countries will have to depend even more on her national institutions for the training of the engineering manpower relevant to their development needs. It will, therefore, be necessary for the professional associations and the training institutions in Africa to co-operate even more closely in defining the content of the engineering curricula of the 21 st Century.

5.0 REFERENCES

KWANU, F.O. (1990)“The Role of theuniversity in Engineering Manpower Development and Utilisation” Repent on the Joint UNDP/UST Workshop on University - Industry Co-operation for Capacity Building in Engineering Training and Consultancy, Accra, August 1990.

41

Table I. SOME HISTORICAL LANDMARKS OF THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

DATE EVENT

September 1970 Mass resignation of Academic Staff of the Faculty on grounds of low funding levels and poor working conditions.

October 1970 Election of the late Prof. E. Bamfo-Kwakye as the first Ghanaian Dean of the Faculty.

October 1971 Establishment of the Department of Agricultural Engineering.

October 1973 Establishment of the Department of Mining and Mineral Engineering which later formed the nucleus of the Institute of Mining and Mineral Engineering.

October 1975 Transfer of the Department of Chemical Technology from Faculty of Science to Faculty of Engineering to become Department of Chemical Engineering.

June 1976 Production of the first three female engineering graduates made up of two Tanzanians and one Ghanaian (Ms. Vivian RENTSIL).

January 1987 Redesignation of the Faculty of Engineering as School of Engineering following a long period of agitation.

Table II. SWOT ANALYSIS OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION AT UST

Strengths

l Attracts applicants with some of the best physical science backgrounds. l Relative stability of staffing situation on account of the preponderance of nationals on teaching staff. . Has forged close liaison with major industrial consumers of its output in recent years thereby affording

access to alternative sources of funding. . Maintains close contact with the relevant local professional bodies such as the GhIE and the GIS. . Undertakes constant review of course structure and content to relate them to national development

priorities. . Submits the structure, content and philosophies of its courses to regular peer review through a system of

accreditation and assessment by external examiners and moderators.

Weaknesses

l Excessive reliance on funding from government, thereby, rendering long-term planning difficult. . Instability of academic calender as a result frequent industrial action. . “Academic isolation” as a consequence of being the only institution of its kind in Ghana. . Inability to organise effective vacation practical training to help students relate their studies to practice. l Unfavourable gender balance due to circumstances beyond control of the School. . Has been unable to put a sustainable post graduate programme in place in all Departments because of

discriminatory policy on post-graduate training. . Inability of the School and GhIE to provide for adequate post-graduation practical training because of

prevailing National Service policy.

42

Table II continued. SWOT ANALYSIS OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION AT UST

Opportunities

. Has the potential to develop into a centre of excellence for training of engineering manpower in the sub- region.

. Is a preferred partner of external institutions seeking academic co-operation with African institutions.

. Has considerable potential for income generation through consultancy, contract research, continuing education and product development.

Threats

l Uncertainty of level of funding from year to year. . Excessive demand on limited places. l Deteriorating academic facilities. . Inadequate funding for research and dissemination of research findings.

43

QUALITY ASSURANCE AND RELEVANCE OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN ZIMBABWE

D J Simbi and 0 S Chinyamakobvu Faculty of Engineering, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

Engineering education is the foundation for industrial growth which is the driving force for economic development. Engineering education does not produce much benefit ifit is not tailored to address the particular needs of the society being served and if there are no measures to ensure the quality of the programmes offered. The educational patterns currently obtaining in Zimbabwe and indeed other African countries, are imported ones in that they were designed to serve societies elsewhere. There is now a great need to re-examine them and modify them to make them more relevant and to reformulate the criteria used for quality assurance.

This paper presents the Zimbabwean scenario in terms of the history and development of engineering education. The relevance of the programmes offered are assessed against the background of the country’s industry, and the existing steps to assure quality are discussed. Some suggestions for change are also put forward.

1. INTRODUCTION

Zimbabwe is a small landlocked country in Southern Africa with a population of about 12 million people. A recent politically turbulent history including the imposition of economic sanctions from 1965 to 1980 ironically led to the growth of a fairly vibrant industrial sector. The driving force for the expansion of the industrial sector was essentially the need to become self reliant in an economy that was predominantly agriculture and mining based. Agriculture currently accounts for about 22% of GDP [l]. Mining of ores and industrial minerals accounts for about 9% of GDP [ 11, but because most of the minerals are exported, the industry is responsible for about 40% of the country’s foreign currency earnings [2]. The two major industrial centres in Zimbabwe are Harare, the capital and largest city, and Bulawayo, the second city. Historically though, the major heavy industries such as foundries, were started in Bulawayo [3]. Several smaller cities such as Gweru, Mutare and Kwekwe have also in recent years become important industrial centres. Mines are scattered all round the country and most are equipped to excavate as well as process the minerals. This has infact resulted in some of the mines being large and populous urban settlements for example, Bindura, Hwange, Renco, Shamva, Sanyati to name but a few.

2. THE EDUCATION OF ENGINEERS IN ZIMBABWE

Engineering education to degree levels is currently offered at two state Universities in Zimbabwe; the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), and the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). Up to 1991 the UZ was the only institution offering Engineering degrees nationwide. The graduates produced were complimented by a small influx of students who had studied abroad.

The first three disciplines to be offered at the UZ since the establishment of the Faculty of Engineering in 1974 were Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. In 1985 a further three disciplines were included, namely, Mining and Metallurgical Engineering and Surveying. Table 1 shows the graduate output from the UZ Faculty of Engineering since its inception.

NUST was created in 1991 by the Zimbabwe Government to produce mainly technical graduates and a handful of Commerce and Business Studies graduates. The first graduates from NUST completed their studies in 1995.

44

Three other private Universities have started in Zimbabwe since 1991, but none of them offer engineering education. The discussion presented in this paper will therefore focus mainly on the activities of the UZ, Faculty of Engineering.

3. QUALITY AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

3.1 QUALITY ISSUES The debate on quality has a peculiarly fascinating dimension in Zimbabwe. If we can define quality as “suitability for purpose” then it immediately becomes apparent that the “customer” and “producer” of engineers in Zimbabwe have different interpretations of the term. The quality yardstick from the University point of view, is the employability and performance of the young graduates “internationally” as well as their acceptability for further study (MSc, PhD) in and outside Zimbabwe. Industry on the other hand believes local Universities are producing candidates who are too “theoretical” and lack practical skills. They would like to see the Engineering faculties increase the practical component of their courses and include more skills training in the curricula. This attitude can be understood from the point of view that local industry generally is not involved in Research and Development (R & D). To a large extent they are branches of parent companies in Europe or America where all the R & D is done. It is not uncommon for companies to bring in “experts” from abroad when they have serious problems. The role of the local engineer is therefore reduced to that of maintenance and simple repairs. Such tasks would ordinarily be left to technicians.

The preceding argument on quality is presented as it has a bearing on the steps taken to assess or assure quality of engineering programmes in Zimbabwe. Thus in discussing quality assurance, it will be necessary to examine the inputs with respect to the quality of the student and competence of the lecturer/professor in teaching.

3.2 QUALITY ASSURANCE

3.2.1 Programme layout The BSc Honours Engineering programmes at the University of Zimbabwe take 4 years except for the Mining Engineering discipline which now takes 5 years. The first year is common to all disciplines except Surveying, the idea being that the subjects offered are essential as a foundation to a more specialised approach in the later years. A list of the subjects offered in the

first and subsequent years is attached as Appendix 1 [4]. The Faculty also makes a significant input into the BSc (Honours) Agricultural Engineering degree in the Faculty of Agriculture as well as providing service courses to a number of programmes in the Faculty of Science.

3.2.2 Entry qualifications and selection procedure Entry qualifications to the programme are good “A” levels or the equivalent in science subjects. Admission is open to school leavers, “special” and “mature” entry applicants. Normally school leavers should have been high “A” level achievers. The “special” and “mature” entry categories include holders of pre-university diploma and/or have several years working experience in the relevant discipline. Selection or application forms are sent to all “A” levels schools throughout the country and the prospective students requested to make their choice(s) of discipline in order of preference. Depending on the number of points scored in the relevant three “A” subjects and the cut-off point for the particular discipline, 40-60% of the applicants who will have qualified normally get admitted into their first choice discipline. The rest of the places will be filled by students from Faculties of Medicine and Commerce who would not have achieved the very high points required in these disciplines but would have put engineering as second or third choice. There are times when such students have been accepted at the expense of first and second choice engineering students simply because they have better “A” level aggregates. The question one might ask is whether the quality of a student who should enter into an engineering programme should be simply measured by his/her “A” level aggregate or that there should be additional criteria.

3.2.3 Industrial training Rather as in Mining Engineering at the UZ, the Engineering programmes at NUST are 5 years in duration. The courses were designed so that one full year would be spent on attachment in industry. This allows for a reasonably continuous practical training for the students. Infact it has also been discovered that where students demonstrate ability, the companies attaching them employ the students at the end of their studies. In the case of Mining Engineering at UZ, the practical year is taken in Year 2, and if students do not like the mining environment after this short experience, they are allowed to switch registration to the other disciplines within the Faculty of Engineering.

45

The rest of the undergraduate engineering programmes at UZ are run on the belief that the necessary practical experience can be obtained by attaching students during the vacations. It is mandatory that each student accumulates 18 weeks of such vacation attachment. Employers normally take students for industrial attachment during the 3-month long vacation that stretches from mid- December to mid-March. There is a general preference to take on students in the third year of their programme as these are considered useful by most employers. Since companies are not mandatorily required by law to provide industrial training to engineering undergraduates, it is inevitable that in any one year a few students will complete their programme of study without fulfulling the 18-week industrial attachment requirement.

It is apparent from the above discussion that the arrangements to fulfull the industrial attachment requirement are inadequate and that the time allocated is too short. In order to address these short comings and provide for a meaningful contribution of industrial training to the development of a quality engineering student, alternative measures must be put in place. The Faculty of Engineering has in place the Liaison Office which co-ordinates all industrial training activities. The

importance of the Liaison Offlice is highlighted by the fact that it is occupied by an academic who will have attained Senior Lecturer grade or equivalent. The move taken by the Department of Mining Engineeing in close co-operation with the Chamber of Mines to allow students to spend a full year in industry is being viewed with a lot interest by sister departments in the Faculty of Engineering. The approach borrows from experiences, particularly in Europe where on average an undergraduate programme takes at least five to six years to complete with the emerging product “almost fit for purpose.” The importance of industrial training as part of the undergraduate engineering education make the Polytechnics (now Universities) in the UK very attractive destinations for students with the graduates being readily accepted by industry.

In the event that the Faculty of Engineering recommends the adoption of a full year industrial attachment for all its undergraduate programmes, it is important that consultations are held with all the stakeholders. The inclusion of all potential employers is considered crucial to the success of the programme. Such organisations as the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, the Chamber of Mines, the Zimbabwe Institute of

Table 1. University of Zimbabwe, Faculty of Engineering Graduate Output to 1997

YEAR CIVIL ELEC MECH MET MIN SURV TOTAL

1977 6 3 2 1978 7 12 6 1979 7 6 5 1980 8 5 3 1981 2 9 6 1982 6 2 1 1983 6 17 6 1984 17 13 8 1985 15 13 11 1986 17 19 17 1987 31 27 14 1988 34 28 15 1989 29 25 16 1990 46 46 15 1991 46 35 24 1992 60 41 30 1993 42 36 23 1994 50 34 19 1995 33 34 25 1996 46 33 24

4 4 3 8 9 4

17 14 11 7 13 10

14 26 11 17 12 10 20 16 13 14 17 9 18 4 10

11 25 18 16 17 9

29 38 39 53 72 88 91

149 135 182 140 152 132 135

508 438 270 119 115 81 1,531

46

Foundrymen, Institution of Mining and Metallurgy - Zimbabwe, Institute of Materials - Zimbabwe etc. should be seen to play a pivotal role in the formulation and implementation of the policies that will guide the execution of the industrial training programme.

3.24 Quality of teaching/lecturing To be appointed a lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering at UZ requires the possession of a good first degree and relevant industrial experience. In recent years, however, there has been increased tendency towards the recruitment of holders of higher degrees, PhD in particular. A minimum of two years relevant industrial experience is considered adequate. For those members recruited through the University staff development scheme, where possible, time has been provided for them to spend sometime in industry.

Traditionally, university lecturers/professors needed no training. With awesome development of science and technology in the last four to five decades, the lecturer/ professor’s knowledge of all fields looks pitifully lean. In the past, the professor knew almost all that there was to know and like Plato and Aristotle and had only a handful of students under his charge. Today, the professor in charge of any first year engineering course at the University of Zimbabwe finds himself standing before a class which he is unable to reach effectively with his/her voice alone. In order to address this problem, he must make use of sophisticated teaching aids some of which he/she must be taught how to use. Since there are so many students than can be adequately provided for by the learning resources (reference textbooks, laboratory exercise, journal articles etc), the students soon find out that they must increasing rely on the lecturer/professor’s class performance.

Soon after independence, the need for university education at UZ reached explosion levels with with new programmes coming on board on a yearly basis. By 1990 student enrolment reached an alarming figure of nearly 12000. As already mentioned, the criterion used for selecting students for admission at the University of Zimbabwe is the highest number of points scored in three relevant subjects at “A” level for the discipline in question. In the absence of an active “Careers Guidance Programme”, the system favours old departments with well established traditions. In the Faculty of Engineering, for example, this has meant students (not selected by traditional disciplines such civil, electrical and mechanical) with all sorts of backgrounds end up being allocated places in the newer disciplines of mining, metallurgy and surveying. All these students

must continue to be taught by the traditional lecturing method! This method is best suited to imparting content knowledge and does little or almost nothing to develop and stimulate any spirit of inquiry or initiative in the student. It is not surprising, therefore, that the majority of students in Faculties of Engineering in the majority of the poor Universities see their mission at university as one of memorizing lecture notes for the sake of passing examinations only. This, in turn leads to the production of immature and half baked graduates: (a) who are not serious with their work (b) who hold little attraction for employers at the end

of their courses (c) whose potential contribution to national

development is seriously impaired.

The above impacts badly on the quality of the engineering graduate leaving the university.

It appears, therefore, that there is a need to evolve new approaches that are compatible with teaching of engineering disciplines to students with different interest and intellectual abilities. A more fundamental question that must be answered is whether lecturers/ professors should still be appointed on the basis of competence in their narrow fields of specialisation, rather than on their teaching abilities. The general feeling among lecturers/professors in the Faculty of Engineering at UZ is that time and effort spent in trying to increase their repertoire of teaching strategies is a distraction from their academic pursuits which are weighted in favour of research and learned publication. This point of view, which is shared by many, totally agrees with the old adage: “publish or perish”.

3.2.5 Evolution of University Teaching and Learning Centre In order to deal expertly with some of the issues raised above, it is increasingly being recognised that a lecturer/ professor at university may after all require some training [5] so that he/she is best able to: (a) manipulate teaching technology (b) do research in order to acquire relevant

knowledge from the pool of “exploded knowledge”

(c) deliver the extracted knowledge effectively to students under his charge.

If the idea of having a training college for university lecturers and professors is still a distant objective, at least they can learn the tricks of effective teaching, research and writing through institutionalized seminars and workshop. As part of the contribution to the quality

47

of imparting knowledge and in line with this now widely accepted idea, the University of Zimbabwe has now in place the University Teaching and Learning Centre (UTLC) through which both fresh and old staff pass briefly, but regularly, to pick-up new techniques in teaching, research and article/textbook writing. The overall objective of the centre is to enhance the lecturer/ professor’s academic and professional excellence in teaching and research and to improve his/her technical and administrative skills. This is done by organizing and conducting courses, seminars, workshops and conferences for the different levels of teaching staff and academic administrators, as well as orientation programmes for new and expatriate staff. The setting up of the UTLC outside the Faculty of Education was considered crucial as most lecturers/professors would hate to think that they are being “taught” how to teach by their colleagues in the Faculty of Education.

3.2.6 Relevance of research to quality of teaching As previously mentioned, acceptability of graduates to undertake postgraduate studies in and outside Zimbabwe can also be used as reflection of the quality of the output from the undergraduate engineering programme. The pursuance of postgraduate studies in the Faculty of Engineering follows two routes: (a) taught programmes leading to postgraduate

diploma and MSc in either Engineering or Surveying.

(b) research programmes leading to either a Master or Doctor of Philosophy award.

Developments in engineering mean increased diversity of technologies being introduced to the market. It has thus become imperative for industry to have its pool of graduate engineers update their knowledge through in- house seminars or return to university to further their training leading either postgraduate diploma or a masters degree. This has led to the launching of a number new such postgraduate programmes, notably in the Departments of Surveying, Civil, Eelectrical and Mechanical Engineering. The participants include a considerable number of former students from these Departments. In addition, Departments are running continuing engineering education (CEE) courses for industry and these are organised through the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers or local chapters of the relevant local or international professional association.

It is well known that good research is very expensive and that the sourcing of funds for such activities can be very tricky. Through collaborative efforts from partners

in industry and research grants from the Research Board of the University of Zimbabwe, it has been possible for the Department of Metallurgical Engineering, for example, to put in place a cocktail of research activities ranging from mineral processing to value addition. The different research activities will lead to the award of degrees of Master or Doctor of Philosophy. The majority of these researchers are students who have graduated from the Department. The engagement of the mind in active research is considered by academics in the Department as having a positive attribute in that it provides: (a) new teaching and laboratory demonstration

materials (b) material likely to be published - hence increase

the individual’s prospects for promotion (c) answers to tricky problems afflicting industry (d) high level manpower some of whom can be

recruited by the Department to take up lectureship positions.

The efforts outlined above are testimony of the Faculty of Engineering’s mission which is to continue to play a key role in the development of the nation.

3.2.7 Peer and student evaluation of lectures The main purpose of evaluating lectures or any other form of teaching is to improve them. In the Faculty of Engineering, this aspect is achieved through peer and student evaluation of the lecturer’s teaching.

3.2.7.1 PEER EVALUATION

It is often said that it is difficult to evaluate lecturing or teaching compared with research in that lectures are a “transient live experience” - more akin to musical experience. At the University of Zimbabwe, results of peer evaluation of lectures are increasingly being used to assess a lecturer/professor’s competence in teaching in aspects relating to renewal of contracts, awarding of tenure and/or promotion. Peer evaluation involves the pairing of lecturers or groups of lecturers to undertake an evaluation of each other’s lectures. A minimum of two to three such assessments per year are deemed optimum. An important step in the process is to agree upon a set of criteria. At UZ this has been facilitated through the production of a check-list by the UTLC (Appendix 2). The form allows, the assessors to explore the structure of the lecture and its contents. Furthermore, it is encouraged that any observations or comments written should be constructive.

3.2.7.2 STUDENT EVALUATION If one wants to know if a “restaurant” is good, one checks with the customer and not the cook or proprieter.

48

Student reactions to lectures given in the course of study can be gathered casually in conversation or, more preferably, systematically through the use of check-lists, questionnaires or rating schedules (Appendix 3). Questions on structure and presentation have been found to provide useful feedback compared with “likes” and “dislikes”. The rating schedule used in the Faculty of Engineering at UZ also contains an open space for any comments the student may wish to make.

3.2.8 Quality assurance and the external examiner The use of examination to check the performance of the students is an established approach of quality assessment. Examination results clearly depend on many factors besides lectures, but consistently poor or outstanding results can be useful indicators of a lecturer/ professor’s performance in teaching. In this regard, the external examiner is seen to play a critical role in assessing the lecturer/professor’s teaching competence through moderation of the examiner’s questions and the student’s answers. As with peer and student evaluation results, the external examiner’s comments are also taken into consideration when matters of tenure, promotion etc. are being discussed. The external examiner is thus seen to be the ‘quality control’ officer in a ‘quality assurance’ team. Due to financial constraints, external examiners are required to visit Departments every two years during which they are requested to attend Departmental and Faculty Boards of Examiners. Any comments or recommendations made in reports to the Vice-Chancellor are considered seriously.

3.2.9 ACCREDITATION OF ENGINEERING PROGRAMMES AT UZ The Departments that constitute the Faculty of Engineering at UZ were established in consultation with the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers and the relevant local chapters of other professional associations. Every four years, the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers sets up an accreditation team to ascertain the quality of the six programmes currently run by the Faculty of Engineering. In the last exercise conducted in 1994, only the Departments of Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering were able to meet the quality assurance criteria set by the relevant professional associations. The Faculty of Engineering views the accreditation exercise as being an important aspect of quality of engineering education that merits international acceptance of UZ graduates in these programmes with respect to postgraduate studies, admission to other professional associations, student exchange programmes where credits are awarded for courses undertaken.

4. SUMMARY Engineering education which is offered only at two state run universities; namely the University of Zimbabwe and the National University of Science and Technology has been discussed in this paper with respect to quality assurance and relevance to the needs of the industrial community in Zimbabwe. The quality of the programmes which are run by the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Zimbabwe show a strong dependence on: (a) pre-university qualification and students’ interest

prior to admission. The need to review selection policy is indicated.

(b) competence of the lecturer/professor as indicated by peer and student evaluation as well as external examiner’s remarks. The increasing role of the University Teaching and Learning Centre in assisting newly appointed and old staff in dealing with both teaching and research matters for the purpose of improving the quality of teaching has been highlighted.

(c) The accreditation of degree programmes is considered an important step in that it assures acceptability by the local and international engineering communities of engineering education offered

REFERENCES 1.

2.

3.

4. 5.

Reserve bank of Zimbabwe: “Quarterly Economic and Statistical Review,” Vol. 14, No.3, September, 1993. O.S. Chinyamakobvu, EP Gudyanga and E. Navara: “Engineering Education in Africa - the Zimbabwe Exprience.” SEFI Annual Conference, 28 June-lJuly, 1993, Lulea, Sweden. D.J. Simbi, H.A.S. Madi and M.B. Noon: “The Zimbabwe Foundry Industry (Past, Present and Future).” 2nd National Conference on Foundry Technology, September, 199 1, Harare, Zimbabwe. University of Zimbabwe Calender, 1995196. W.R. Ochieng’: “Future strategies”. Sub-regional Workshop: Towards Academic and Professional Excellence in Higher Education, Part 3, Kariba, Zimbabwe, 30 June- 12 July, 199 1.

APPENDICES Appendix 1. University of Zimbabwe, Faculty of

Engineering: Regulations and Courses for the undergraduate degree programmes.

Appendix 2. University teaching assessment form. APCl43i89.

Appendix 3. Faculty of Engineering: Students’ assessment of course form.

49

APPENDIX 1 FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

REGULATIONS FOR THE UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMMES

REGULATIONS FOR THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE ENGINEERING HONOURS DEGREE (BSC ENG HONS)

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 These regulations should be read in conjunction with the General Academic Regulations for undergraduate Degrees hereinafter referred

to as the General Regulations. 1.2 The Degree will be awarded to candidates who have successfully completed the Programme and passed the examinations in accordance

with the Regulations set out below.

2. QUALIFICATIONS FOR ENTRY TO THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING 2.1 Prospective students must comply with Section 3 of the General Regulations. Entry requirements for acceptance are good Advanced

level passes in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, or acceptable equivalents, For selection purposes, credit will be given for ‘0’ and ‘A’ Level passes in Technical Drawing or Engineering Drawing.

2.2 Except in the case of Metallurgical Engineering students, the Chemistry requirement may be waived, provided the student has a satisfactory pass in this subject at ‘M’ Level or in Physics with Chemistry at ‘0’ Level.

3. DATES OF EXAMINATION 3.1 Subject to the provisions of Section 6.7 of the General Regulations, to be admitted to any of the examinations for the above degree, a

candidate must have obtained coursework marks which satisfy the appropriate Chairmen of Departments in each Course of the Part. 3.2 Additionally, to be admitted to the examination in the Fourth part, a candidate must: 3.2.1 have satisfactorily completed approved vacation training normally a total of not less than eighteen weeks’ work; and 3.2.2 have obtained an approved First Aid Certificate.

4. 4.1

4.2

4.3 4.4

4.5

4.6

iii) 4.7

SCHEME OF EXAMINATION The Courses constituting each Part of the normal four-year Programme are defined hereafter in these Regulations. To each Course, a weighting factor is assigned. The aggregate mark in a Part is the weighted average of the specified number of Courses in that Part. The minimum acceptable aggregate mark for a Part is the pass mark as prescribed in the General Regulations Assessment of a Course shall include the mark of the examination as well as the coursework mark in that Course. Normally, the coursework shall contribute between 20% and 25% of the final mark. In the following cases, the coursework normally contribute between 30% and 50% of the final mark: Drawing and Design Courses in Mechanical Engineering. A candidate must satisfy the Examiners in both the examination and the coursework in each Course. A candidate who, in the assessment in each Course in a Part, obtains the Pass Mark, will be deemed to have satisfied the Examiners in that Part and may proceed to the subsequent Part. A candidate who obtains the minimum acceptable aggregate mark but fails to obtain the pass mark in one of the Courses, may nevertheless be deemed by the Senate to have satisfied the Examiners for that part and may be allowed to proceed to the subsequent Part carrying the failed Course. Candidates who are permitted to repeat a Part may, subject to the Dean’s approval:- i) carry forward to their credit individual Courses in which they have obtained astandard higher than the Pass Mark and they may be

exempted from re-attendance and re-examination in these Course in their repeat year; ii) register for addition al Courses which constitute a portion of a subsequent Part provided that:

(a) they have previously obtained a Pass Mark in any Courses prescribed as prerequisites for the additional Course; and (b) the total number of the additional Courses for which they register shall not exceed 50% of the Courses constituting that

subsequent Part; should they obtain a standard higher tQuality Assurance and Relevance of Engineering Education in Zimbabwe In terms of the provisions of Section 8.4 of the General Regulations, a student who carries a failed Course may not be permitted to take the Course(s) in the subsequent Part for which the Course(s) which he is carrying is a pre-requisite.

4.8 Parts I, II and III 4.8.1 All Part I students will be required to take 8 Courses as specified in Section 8 below, and will be required to pass all 8 Courses as well

as on aggregate. Parts II and III students will, in addition, be required to take Part III project as well as Professional and Industrial Studies. Parts II and III students will be required to pass all 8 courses as well as on aggregate.

4.8.2 Subject to the provisions of Section 9.6.3 of the General Regulations, a candidate who fails to satisfy the Examiners in 4 or less Courses, shall normally be permitted to write supplementary examination in up to 4 of the failed courses.

4.8.3 A candidate who, after supplementary examinations, has failed one course, but has passed on aggregate, may be permitted to proceed to the subsequent Part, carrying the failed Course. Candidates will be required to pass carried courses in the subsequent year, failing which they may be permitted to re-register for failed courses only.

4.8.4A candidate who, after supplementary examinations, has failed 2 Courses or has failed on aggregate, Shall normally be allowed to repeat the Part.

4.8.5 A candidate who, after supplementary examinations, has still failed 4 Courses, or more shall normally be required to discontinue from the degree programme.

50

_____ ..~~ -...- - .--_---

4.8.6In Mining Engineering, after successful completion of Part I students will be required to go for a one year supervised and assessed Industrial attachment programme before registering for Part II.

4.9 Part IV 4.9.1 Subject to the provisions of Section 9.6.3 of the General Regulations, a candidate who fails to satisfy the Examiners in 2 or less

Courses in the final assessment shall normally be permitted to write supplementary examination in the Course(s) in which he has failed.

4.9.2A candidate who, after supplementary examinations, has still failed up to 2 Courses, shall normally be allowed to repeat Part IV 4.10 Degree Classification 4.10.1In determining a candidate’s classification, the aggregate marks from Parts II, III and IV will be weighted 15%. 25% and 60%

respectively to arrive at an aggregate mark upon which the classification will be based. 4.10.2The degree will be awarded in the categories:

First Division, Upper Second Division, Lower Second Division, Third Division. 4.10.3Candidates who complete Parts II, III and IV in three consecutive academic years, or less, may qualify for the award of the degree

in a class higher than Third Division.

5. AWARD OF DIPLOMA 5.1 A Diploma for the BSc Engineering Honours Degree under the Seal of the University will be delivered to every successful

candidate and will state the category of his pass. The successful candidates will have their Diploma annotated as being in the respective field of: Civil Engineering; OR Electrical Engineering; OR Mechanical Engineering: OR Metallurgical Engineering; OR Mining Engineering/

5.2 A separate transcript listing results for all the Courses taken and giving the titles of all the projects passed will be issued with the Diploma.

6. PROGRAMME The Programme to be pursued by each candidate, unless he is granted an exemption or concession by the Senate and provided he has satisfied the relevant pre-requisites as laid down in these Regulations, shall be compiled from the following Courses in each Part:

6.1 PartI Electrical Principles; Engineering Drawing and Design; Engineering Materials; Engineering Mathematics; Computing Science I; *Workshop Practice; Engineering Mechanics; Communication Skills. *Written papers plus a pm&z&examination which may be waived at die discretion of the Chairman for those who have attained a satisfactory standard in Coursework.

6.2 Part II Civil Engineering Theory of Structures; Fluid Mechanics; Geomechanics; Engineering Geology; Engineering Surveying; Civil Engineering Design and Communication; Mathematics IIE; Strength of Materials.

Electrical Engineering Advanced Electrical Principles; Electrical Measurements; Electrical Machines; Electronic Circuit Design; Applied Mechanics II; Theory of Structures; Thermo-fluids; Digital Electronics; Mathematics IIE; Software Engineering. Mechanical Engineering Applied Mechanics; Solid Mechanics; Engineering Drawing Design and Materials; Thermo-fluids; Electrical Machines; Electronic Circuit Design/Theory of Structures; Mathematics IIE; Manufacturing Technology. Metallurgical Engineering Chemistry IE; Mathematics IIE; Metallurgical Principles; Solid Mechanics; Introduction to Mining and Metallurgy; Applied Chemistry; Fuels, Energy and Environment; Geology. Mining Engineering Electrical Machines; Advanced Geology; Fundamentals of Geology; Introduction to Mining and Metallurgy; Strength of Materials; Thermo-fluids; Mathematics IIE; Geomechanics.

6.3 Part III Civil Engineering Analysis of Structures; Design of Structures; Construction Materials; Geotechnology; Water Engineering; Civil Engineering Construction; Transportation Systems and Structures; Water Resources. Electrical Engineering Analogue Electronics; Control Systems; Digital Electronics; Electrical Machines; Electrical Networks; Electrical Power systems’ Electromagnetics’ Telecommunications; Microprocessor Fundamentals: Electronic Instrumentation. Mechanical Engineering Dynamics; Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer; Fluid Mechanics; Solid Mechanics: Mechanical Engineering Design; Industrial Systems Engineering; Power Plants; Control Engineering. Metallurgical Engineering Obligafory courses: Pyrometallurgy (Ferrous) III; Pyrometallurgy (non-ferrous) III; Hydrometallurgy III; Physical Metallurgy III; Mineral Processing III; Heat and Mass Transfer. Optional courses: Ores and Resources; Control Systems; Solid Mechanics III; Materials Technology III; Renewable Energy. Mining Engineering Mining Machinery; Surface Mining; Underground Mining; Mine Surveying; Mine Ventilation; Applied Geology; Rock Mechanics;

51

Operations Research. In addition to the above courses all Part III students will be required to take Part III Project and Professional and Industrial Studies.

6.4 Part IV Civil Engineering Analysis of Structures; Design of Structures; Geotechnology; Hydraulic Structures; Transportation Systems and Structures; Water and Public Health Engineering; Final Year Project. Electrical Engineering Control systems; Computer Engineering; Digital Signal Processing; Electrical Machines and Drives; Electrical Networks; Electrical Power Systems; Microwave Engineering; Power Electronics; Telecommunications; Final Year project; Telecommunication networks and Acoustics. Mechanical Engineering Control Systems; Dynamics; Mechanical Engineering Design; Solid Mechanics; Engineering Management; Thermofluids; Power Plants; Final Year Project. Metallurgical Engineering Mineral Processing IV, Hydrometallurgy IV, Physical Metallurgy IV, Materials Technology IV, Corrosion Engineering; Advanced Materials; Engineering Management; Metallurgy of Iron and Steel; Advanced Pyrometallurgy (Non--Ferrous); Final Year Project. Mining Engineering Materials Handling and Services; Mine Design and Planning; Economics and Management; Final Year Project; Mining Law - Environment and Safety; Mineral Dressing Computer Applications in Mining.

52

REGULATIONS FOR THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE SURVEYING HONOURS DEGREE

1. 1.1 1.2 1.3

INTRODUCTION

I.4

These Regulations should be read in conjunction with the General Academic Regulations for Undergraduate Degrees. These Regulations apply to students who register for the BSc Surveying Honours Degree at the University. In these Regulations the following definitions are used: ‘Programme’: A plan of study lasting a specified period which leads to the degree of Bachelor of Science Surveying Honours. ‘Part’: A defined portion of a Programme. For the purpose of these Regulations a Part is one years plan of study. ‘Subject’: A field of study offered by a Department. ‘Course’: A separately examinable component within a subject. The Degree will be awarded to candidates who have successfully completed the Programme and passed the examination in accordance with the Regulations set out below. It will be awarded in the categories: First Class Honours Second Class Honours (Upper Second Division) Second Class Honours (Lower Second Division) Third Class Honours

2. QUALIFICATIONS FOR ENTRY Prospective students must comply with Section 3 of the General Regulations for undergraduate degrees. Entry requirements for acceptance are good Advanced Level passes in Mathematics and Physics or acceptable equivalents. Candidates with good A-Level Mathematics and O-Level Physics will be considered if, in addition, they have passed either Geography, Chemistry, or Computing Science at A-Level. In addition, for selecting purposes, credit will be given for ‘0’ and ‘A’ Level passes in Technical Drawing and Engineering Drawing.

3. DATES OF EXAMINATIONS Degree examinations will normally take place once in each academic year for each course in a Part at dates to be specified at the start of each academic year. These dates will normally be during July and/or November.

4. ADMISSION TO EXAMINATIONS 4.1 To be admitted to any of the examinations for the above degree, a candidate must: 4.1.1 be registered as a student of the University in accordance with the General regulations for students; 4.1.2 have satisfactorily completed approved vacation training normally of a total of not less than eighteen weeks. 4.2 Additionally, to be admitted to the examination in the Fourth Part, a candidate must: 4.2.1 have satisfactorily completed approved vacation training normally of a total of not less than eighteen weeks work; and 4.2.2 have obtained an approved First Aid Certificate.

5. SCHEME OF EXAMINATION 5.1 The pass mark prescribed in the general regulations is the minimum acceptable mark in courses constituting each part of the programme

defined hereinafter in these regulations. To each Course, a weighting factor is assigned. The aggregate mark in a Part is the weighted average of the Courses constituting that Part. The minimum acceptable aggregate mark for a part is the pass mark prescribed in the Regulations.

5.2 A candidate who, in the examination in each course in a Part, obtains the pass mark will be deemed to have satisfied the Examiners in that.

5.3 A candidate who obtains the minimum acceptable aggregate mark but, who fails to obtain the pass mark in one of the Courses may nevertheless be deemed by the Senate to have satisfied the Examiners in all Courses comprising that Part and may be allowed to proceed to the subsequent Part.

5.4 Candidates who are permitted to repeat a Part may, subject to the Dean’s approval: (i) carry forward to their credit individual courses in which they have obtained a standard higher than the pass mark, and they may be exempted from re-attendance and re-examination in these courses in their repeat year; (ii) register for additional courses for which constitute a portion of a subsequent Part, provided that:

(a) they have previously obtained a pass mark in any courses prescribed as pre- requisites for the additional courses; and

(b) the total number of the additional courses for which they register shall not exceed 50% of the courses constituting that subsequent Part:

(iii) should they obtain a standard higher than the pass mark in any of these additional courses, such marks shall be carried forward to their credit and subsequently they will be exempted from re- attendance and re-examination in these courses.

5.5 Supplementary Examinations may be permitted as prescribed in the General Regulations. 5.6 The examiners may at their discretion require any candidate to attend an oral examination. 5.7 A candidate must satisfy the Examiners in both the examination and the coursework in each Course.

5.8 Parts I, II and III 5.8.1 A Part I student will be required to take 8 courses as specified in Section 8 below, and will be required to pass all 8 courses. Parts II and

III students will aslo be required to take 8 of the courses specified in Section 8 below. Part III students will, in addition, be required to take Part III Project as well as Professional and Industrial Studies. Students in Parts II and III will be required to pass all 8 courses.

5.8.2Subject to the provisions of Section 9.6.3 of the General Regulations, a candidate who fails to satisfy the Examiners in 4 or less courses, shall normally be permitted to write supplementary examinations in up to 4 of the failed courses.

5.8.3 A candidate who, after supplementary examinations, has failed one course, but has passed on aggregate, may be permitted to proceed to

53

the subsequent Part, carrying the failed course. Candidates will be required to pass carried courses in the subsequent year, failing which they may be permitted to re-register for failed courses only.

5.8.4A candidate who, after supplementary examinations, has failed 2 or 3 courses or has failed on aggregate, shall normally be allowed to apply to repeat the failed courses.

5.85 A candidate who, after supplementary examinations, has still failed 4 or more courses, shall normally be required to discontinue from the degree programme.

5.9 In the Fourth Part, a candidate will not be deemed to have satisfied the Examiners unless he/she has passed courses of a total weighting of at least four and a Project, as specified in 8.4 and, in addition, has previously or concurrently passed the course “Professional and Industrial Studies”, as specified in 8.3.

5.10 Degree Classification 5.10.1 In determining a candidate’s classification, the aggregate marks from Part II, III and IV will be weighted 20%. 35% and 45%

respectively to arrive at an aggregate mark upon which the classification will be based. 5.10.2Candidates who complete Parts II, III and IV in three consecutive academic years, or less may qualify for the award of the degree in a

class higher than Third Division.

6. NOTIFICATION OF RESULTS All candidates will be notified by the Deputy Registrar (Academic) of the results of the examination in accordance with the provisions of the General Regulations.

I. THE PROGRAMME The programme to be pursued by each candidate, unless he/she is granted an exemption or a concession by Senate and provided he has satisfied the relevant pre-requisites as laid down in these Regulations, shall be as follows:

7.1 PartI Mathematics IE, Computing Science; Surveying I; Basic Mapping; Environmental Studies: Engineering Mechanics; Electrical Principles and Communication Skills.

7.2 Part II Mathematics IIE, Computer Applications; Surveying II; Basic Cartography; Engineering Surveying; Adjustment Computations I; Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing ISsurvey Camp II.

7.3 Part III Geodesy I; Surveying III; Cadastral Surveying; Urban Planning; Digital Mapping; Adjustment Computations II; Astro-Geodetic Systems; Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing II; plus Professional and Industrial Studies and Survey Camp III (Project).

7.4 Part IV Courses of a total weighting of at least 4 and the final Year project as specified below: Geology II; Land Economics & Management; Satellite Geodesy; Photogrammetry and Remote sensing III; Hydrographic Surveying; Advanced Engineering Surveying; Information Systems; Mining Surveying; Mathematics III; Land Law; Final Year Project.

APPENDIX 2

54

UNIVERSITY TEACHING ASSESSMENT APC/43/89

LECTURER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... ..... ..... .. ... .. ..._. ..... DATE AND TIME . . . . . ..t............................................................................................................................................................................................ Course/Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Number of students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................................................................... Nature of session (e.g. lecture, seminar, tutorial, demonstration etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A. KNOWLEDGE CONTENT

1.

2.

3.

Academic Content ............................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Appropriateness to Students ............................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Reference to Sources/Authorities

4.

5.

6.

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Critical Treatment of Knowledge ..................................................................................................................................................................... ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Tolerance of Alternative Views/Interpretations ............................................................................................................................................... ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... General Competence in the topic .................................................................................................................................................................... ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

B.

1.

STRUCTURE OF PRESENTATION

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

C.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Introduction to the Topic .................................................................................................................................................................................. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Development of Logical Argument ................................................................................................................................................................. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Emphasis of Main Points ................................................................................................................................................................................. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Structuring and Appropriateness of Lecturer’s Question.. ................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Place of Student contributions ......................................................................................................................................................................... ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Conclusion/Recapitulation ............................................................................................................................................................................... ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Overall Management of Time .......................................................................................................................................................................... ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

TEACHING METHOD

Nature of Method(s) (e.g. lecture, tutoriaI/discussion, panel/discussion, group discussions, experiment, demonstration, simulated exercise, outside visit, etc). ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Appropriateness of the method(s) to topic and class ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Appropriateness of language ............................................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Use of Aids (e.g. blackboard, overhead, projector, maps, diagrams, models,

55

5.

6.

D.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

E.

1.

2.

3.

4.

projector, video, etc) ...................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Use of Handouts and other distributed material ............................................................................................................................................. .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... General Mastery of the Teaching Method(s) ................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PERSONAL PRESENTATION

Appropriateness of dress and turnout .............................................................................................................................................................. .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Voice Projection and Modulation; mastery and clarity of language .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Use of facial expression, smile, gesture, humour, etc.. .................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Capability to involve and motivate students; sensitivity to student feedback ............................................................................................................................................................................................. .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Impression of control ..................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

STUDENT REACTION

Nature and extent of student activity (e.g. listening, writing notes, group discussion, etc) .............................................................................................................................................................. .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Student questions, comments, contributions ................................................................................................................................................. .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Attentiveness and co-operation ..................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

General relationships with teacher ................................................................................................................................................................. .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

NOTES FOR GUIDANCE

Where appropriate fill in brief comments under section headings. The comments should be accompanied by a numc3Ikal rating Oil

the following scale:

a. Outstanding b. Satisfactory C. Unsatisfactory

It may not be possible to assess all sections for a particular presentation. Assessors should familiarise themselves thoroughly with the various sections, and their implications before attending a presentation.

56

APPENDIX 3 (I) UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

METALLURGICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

STUDENTS’ ASSESSMENT OF COURSE

DATE: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . COURSE CODE/NAME: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NUMBER OF HOURS PER YEAR: Lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Practicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Please read the list of items below and comment on each aspect of the course by writing one (and only one) of the following numbers in the space provided.

1) If you thought that an item was outstanding. 2) If you thought that an item was good. 3) If you found an item satisfactory. 4) If you had difftculties with an item or thought it poor.

ITEMS NO

1. 2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

7.

8.

9. IO. 11.

The extent to which the course objectives were made clear to you The adequacy of your prior academic knowledge as a preparation for this course. The amount of material contained in the course The amount that you learned from lectures The amount that you learned from tutorials The extent to which tutorials, practicals and assignments covered the subject matter of the course The degree to which this course has stimulated you to independent thought on the course subject The resource materials provided in this course (printed notes,

audiovisual aids, equipment, etc.) Contact between lecturer and students How do you understand the material presented to you What is your evaluation of the lecturer

......

......

......

......

......

......

......

Other comments about the course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..................................................

57

APPENDIX 3 (II)

UNIVESITY OF ZIMBABWE

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT ASSESSMENTS

Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Name of Lecturer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Class Size ._........_........................................... No. of Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ITEM %OF STUDENTS THAT ITEM DESCRIPTION RESPONDED

1 2 3 4

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

The extent to which the course objectives were made clear to YOU The adequacy of your prior academic knowledge as a preparation for this course

The amount of material that you learned from tutorials, practicals & assignments

The amount that you learned from lectures

The extent to which tutorials, practicals & assignments covered by the subject matter of the course

The amount that you learned from tutorials & assignments covered by the subject matter of course

The degree to which this course has stimulated you to independent thought, on the course subject

The resource materials provided in this course (printed notes, audiovisual adis, equipment, etc.)

Contacts between lecturer and students

How do you understand the material presented

What is you evalution of the lecturer

58

CONTINUOUS QUALITY TOWARDS PROFESSIONAL ACCREDITATION IN ENGINEERING

THE QUEST AND THE QUESTIONS

Associate Professor Harry C.S. Rughooputh Faculty of Engineering, university of Mauritius

ABSTRACT

For all of us in higher education, the expectations and demands keep changing, growing and multiplying in nature, however available resources do not. Almost at every campus much effort is being put to the grappling with how to continue providing education of high quality with the same, tfnotfewel; resources. Continuous quality improvement (CQI) methodology is currently being adapted to explore the intelligent application of continuous quality improvement principles to engineering education. As the African campuses gain greater electronic capability, technologies such as the Internet and World Wide Web open new avenues for collecting and disseminating information. More and more higher education institutions are exploring the possibility of extending their activities by providing courses via the Internent. Accreditation will therefore become a crucial issue in the complex future environments within which colleges and universities will have to operate.

In this paper the needfor; initiation, design and implementation of continuous quality improvement (CQI) Programme for engineering Academic Units is highlighted. The different issues concerning professional accreditation and accreditation mandates are also addressed.

59

ANNEX I

Prof. K. Koso-Thomas Chairman

Prof. SM. Maranga

Dr. S.B. Kanyanga

Prof. L.M. Masu

Dr. D.J. Simbi

Prof. Rughooputh

Prof. N.K. Kumapley

Prof. J.R. Masuha

Dr. Mesfin Leikun

Dr. W.A.B. Kunje

Prof. J. Higenyi

Prof. EM. Luti (Rapporteur)

Prof. J.G.M. Massaquoi

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

39 Wallace Road Catham, Kent ME1 2TP

Faculty of Engineering, Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology PO. Box 62000, Nairobi, Kenya

Faculty of Engineering, University of Zambia PO. Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia

Faculty of Engineering, University of Durban-Westville Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa

Faculty of Engineering, University of Zimbabwe P.O. Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe

University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius

Faculty of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Faculty of Engineering, University of Dar es Salaam PO. Box 35 13 1, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Faculty of Technology, Addis Ababa University PO. Box 385, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Faculty of Engineering, Malawi Polytechnic, Private Bag 303, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, Malawi

Faculty of Technology, Makerere University, PO. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda

Faculty of Engineering University of Nairobi PO. Box 301792, Kenya

UNESCO Nairobi Office Programme Specialist in Science and Technology PO. Box 30592, Nairobi, Kenya

60

ANNEX II PROGRAMME

Thursday, 20 November 1997

08.30 - 09.00 Registration

09.00 - 10.00 Opening Formalities

Welcome Address by the Director of UNESCO Nairobi Office (Mr. Paul B. l&ta)

Statement on the background , format and Programme of the Workshop ( J. G.M. Massaquoi)

Introduction of workshop Bureau (i.e. Chairman and Rapporteur)

10.00 - 10.30

10.30 - 12.30

10.30 - 11.10

11.10 - 11.50

11.50 - 12.50

12.30 - 14.00 LUNCH

14.00 - 15.30 Technical Session II: State of Engineering Education in Africa.

14.00 - 14.45

14.45 - 15.30

COFFEE BREAK

Technical Session I: State of Engineering Education in Africa (Part I)

Chairman: Prof. K. Koso-Thomas Rapporteur: Pro5 EM. Luti.

Quality Assurance and Relevance of Engineering Education in South Africa (Pro$ L. Maw University of Durban- West ville)

Quality Assurance and Relevance of Engineering Education in Zambia, DI: S.B. Kanyanga, University of Zambia

A critical look at issues affecting Quality and Relevance of Engineering Education in Malawi DI: WA.B. Kunje, Malawi Polytechnic.

Chairman: Pro$ K. Koso-Thomas Rapporteur: Prof. EM. Luti

Training of Engineering graduates in response to present and future needs for the country (Kenya), Pro$ S.M. Maranga Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

From continuous quality improvement towards professional accreditation in engineering. The quest and the questions, ProjI Harry Rughooputh University of Mauritius.

15.30 - 16.00 COFFEE BREAK

61

16.00 - 17.00

17.00 - 17.30

Friday, 21 November 1997

09.00 - 10.30

10.30 - 11.00

11.00 - 12.00

13.00 - 14.00

14.00 - 15.30

15.30 - 16.00

16.00 - 17.00

17.00 - 18.00

Technical Session III: State of engineering education in Africa

Chairman: Prof: Koso Thomas Rapporteur: Pro8 EM. Luti.

More country background papers from among the late submissions.

Selection of members and leaders of working groups; agenda for working group discussion.

Round I of Working Group Discussions: (Two working groups: one on Relevance another on Quality Assurance).

COFFEE BREAK

Presentation and discussion of Round I working group reports

LUNCH

Round II of Working Group Discussions in parallel sessions: (Three Working Groups on Model Programmes in Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering).

COFFEE BREAK

Round III working Discussion continues

Summary of recommendations and Closing Session.

62