1. ALUMNI SURVEY AT QUB SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL & MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST

2. PREMISE ALUMNI INTAKE GRADUATION & EMPLOYMENT ENGINEERING DEGREE PROGRAMME ENGINEERING DEGREE PROGRAMME SURVEY INTAKE TO ESTABLISH EXISTING EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS SURVEY ALUMNI TO ESTABLISH REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS REDESIGN PROGRAMME TO TRANSFORM KNOWN INPUTS INTO REQUIRED OUTPUTS REDESIGN PROGRAMME TO TRANSFORM KNOWN INPUTS INTO REQUIRED OUTPUTS Engineering programmes should be “designed” (in an engineering sense) to transform KNOWN INPUTS into REQUIRED OUTPUTS.

3. 1.Of the various stakeholders, Alumni are best placed to provide guidance on the REQUIRED OUTPUTS. Faculty and Students should also be surveyed, but primarily to identify misconceptions. 2.Alumni opinion should be sought on the WHOLE CURRICULUM including: The required engineering and underlying subject knowledge. The required additional (non-engineering) subject knowledge. QUB ASSUMPTIONS Many Alumni are also “informed employers”.

4. 1.Alumni were asked to respond using a “resource or importance based” scale, rather than a “proficiency based” scale. 2. Responses were to be based on “direct experience”. OTHER AMENDMENTS 1.To have experienced or been exposed to 2.To be able to participate in and contribute to 3.To be able to understand and explain 4.To be skilled in the practice or implementation of 5.To be able to lead or innovate in 1.of no importance 2.unimportant 3.important 4.very important 5.essential Answer on the basis of what you expect from a graduating engineer. Answer on the basis of your personal experience i.e. judge each subject, topic or skill on its relevance to: (i) your career since you graduated from Queen’s (ii) the careers of other Mechanical / Manufacturing Engineering graduates whose work you are familiar with.

5. THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 1.MATHEMATICS 2.MECHANICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE 3.ADDITIONAL SUBJECTS 4.SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES 5.ALLOCATION OF TEACHING TIME 6.OTHER INFORMATION 7.COMMENTS STRUCTURE OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE Questionnaire mailed to 800 Alumni who graduated between 5 and 30 years ago. 150 replies received to date.

6. 1. MATHEMATICS

7. 1. RESULTS (RANKED) RankTOPIC Ave Rating 1Geometry4.06 2Trigonometry4.01 3Algebra3.86 4Probability & Statistics3.82 5Vectors3.22 6Calculus 1 (ODEs)3.14 7Matrices2.98 8Calculus 2 (PDEs)2.71 9Vector Calculus2.41 10Complex Numbers2.33 11Transforms2.26 % 4 or 5 (very important or essential) % 1 or 2 (no importance or unimportant) 695 7 6211 6511 4029 3631 3436 2144 1760 1362 1165

8. 2. MECH ENGINEERING SCIENCE

9. 2. RESULTS (Ave Rating) 2.1 Thermo & Fluids (a) Principles (b) Relationships (c) Equations 2.2 Solid Mechanics (a) Principles (b) Relationships (c) Equations 2.3 Engineering Dynamics (a) Principles (b) Relationships (c) Equations IMPORTANCE RATING

10. 2. RESULTS (% 4 or 5) 2.1 Thermo & Fluids (a) Principles (b) Relationships (c) Equations 2.2 Solid Mechanics (a) Principles (b) Relationships (c) Equations 2.3 Engineering Dynamics (a) Principles (b) Relationships (c) Equations % 4 or 5 (Very Important or Essential)

11. 2. RESULTS (Older v Younger) 2.1 Thermo & Fluids (a) Principles (b) Relationships (c) Equations 2.2 Solid Mechanics (a) Principles (b) Relationships (c) Equations 2.3 Engineering Dynamics (a) Principles (b) Relationships (c) Equations % 4 or 5 (Very Important or Essential) Striped = 20 or more years Plain = Less than 10 years

12. 3. ADDITIONAL SUBJECTS

13. 3. ADDITIONAL SUBJECTS (cont)

14. 3. RESULTS (Ranked 1 to 10) RankTOPIC Ave Rating % 4 or 5 (very important or essential) 1Engineering Design4.4088 2Manufacturing Processes & Technologies3.9568 3Materials Science3.8061 4Product Innovation & Development3.7762 5Quality Systems3.7358 6Production Management & Control3.6154 7Management Theory & Practices3.5452 8Business & Enterprise Systems3.5050 9Fluid Power3.4247 10Entrepreneurship3.3941

15. 3. RESULTS (Ranked 11 to 20) RankTOPIC Ave Rating % 4 or 5 (very important or essential) 11Electrical Engineering3.3039 12Law3.1233 13Electronics3.0828 14Mechatronics3.0628 15Accounting Methods & Practices3.0430 16Control3.0330 17Instrumentation3.0324 18Economics3.0129 19Marketing Methods & Practices2.9727 20Computer Programming2.9534

16. 4. SKILLS & ATTRIBUTES

17. 4. SKILLS & ATTRIBUTES (cont)

18. 4. RESULTS Eng. Reasoning and Problem Solving Exp. and Knowledge Discovery System Thinking Personal Skills & Attributes Professional Skills & Attitudes Teamwork and Leadership Communications External & Societal Context Enterprise & Business Context Conceiving Designing Implementing Operating QUB Alumni

19. 4. RESULTS (Scaled v MIT ALUMNI*) Eng. Reasoning and Problem Solving Exp. and Knowledge Discovery System Thinking Personal Skills & Attributes Professional Skills & Attitudes Teamwork and Leadership Communications External & Societal Context Enterprise & Business Context Conceiving Designing Implementing Operating QUB Alumni MIT Alumni TRENDLINES * CDIO Syllabus Report - MIT 2001

20. DETAILS 4. RESULTS (Scaled v MIT ALUMNI) Eng. Reasoning and Problem Solving Exp. and Knowledge Discovery System Thinking Personal Skills & Attributes Professional Skills & Attitudes Teamwork and Leadership Communications External & Societal Context Enterprise & Business Context Conceiving Designing Implementing Operating QUB Alumni MIT Alumni

21. 4. RESULTS (ALUMNI v FACULTY) QUB Alumni QUB Faculty Eng. Reasoning and Problem Solving Exp. and Knowledge Discovery System Thinking Personal Skills & Attributes Professional Skills & Attitudes Teamwork and Leadership Communications External & Societal Context Enterprise & Business Context Conceiving Designing Implementing Operating

22. 5. ALLOCATION OF TIME

23. 5. RESULTS (RANKED) 2.35Mathematics6 3.06 Mechanical Engineering Science 5 3.13 Practical Work: Laboratory Classes 4 3.44Additional Subjects3 3.81 Developing Skills and Attributes 2 3.84 Practical Work: Design, Build and Test 1 Ave Rating AREA OF CURRICULUM Rank 05 918 2126 4849 5967 7164 Older AlumniYounger Alumni % 4 or 5 (More or Considerable More Time)

24. CONCLUSIONS 1.We need to place more emphasis on: (a) Fundamental Principles in Engineering Science. (b) Practical Work involving Design, Build and Test. (c) The Development of Skills and Attributes. 2.In Mathematics, we need to ensure that students are competent in pre-university subjects. 3. We need to review the priority we give to each of the “Additional Subjects” we include in the curriculum. 4.We need to focus on the particular Skills and Attributes that are relevant to the needs of our graduates. i.e. OUR RESULTS SUPPORT CDIO.