On the Search of New Engineering
st
Curriculum Model for the 21 Century
B. Rakhshani
University of the Highlands and Islands
Department of Aeronautical and Aircraft Engineering
Perth – United Kingdom
Objectivities of the Presentation
 Engineering curriculum model definition
 Curriculum model requirements
 Research-based (PBL) approach
 (Aerospace/Aircraft) Engineering curriculum
model performance analysis (survey)
9th Enhancement Themes national conference
Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, March, 2012
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Curriculum for Employability
“To be employed is to be at risk, to
be employable is to be secure” –
Peter Hawkins
It’s all about securing employment
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Definitions
 (New) models of education and training must be developed to provide
accelerated development of engineering staff with potential as skilled
specialists and engineering leaders in the future
 As well as providing fundamental knowledge and understanding in
engineering and technology driven subjects, experience must be gained
on professional problem solving, implementation of quality and control in
engineering processes and business awareness of the engineering
development
 The model should provide a balance between hands-on engineering
technical experience and theory by wide range of technical training and
academic study
9th Enhancement Themes national conference
Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, March, 2012
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Curriculum Model Requirements: Curriculum for
Transferable skills
 Engineering Leadership: take control of situations in problem solving, design tasks,
and managing effectively work loads within a team .
 Analytical skills: evaluate information effectively by applying (scientific
(technical/theoretical) principles) , attention to detail, perseverance and maintaining
focus.
 Innovation: having new ideas. It is the ability to identify new opportunities, generate
solutions, make improvements and to think creatively and enterprisingly in order to
produce an effective outcome.
 Adaptability: anticipating and responding to changing circumstances and coping
effectively with the transition. Fit into a new environment quickly and easily.
 Initiative: Initiative is the ability to be resourceful and to introduce a new course of
action. To be resilient, tenacious and determined.
 Skills Transferability: Be able to pass existing skills onto different roles that may or
may not require (new) different skills.
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Objectives of the Curriculum for Transferable skills
 Developing abilities in the students that are broad and multiple and
also transferable to other (engineering) contexts
 Multiple
and/or
transferable
skills
include
managerial
skills,
leadership, communication, working in teams, problem solving,
innovation, flexibility and adaptation to new roles and specialisation
 In current employment environment, graduates and trainees are
required to adapt constantly changing roles, take on new tasks and
be able to learn new skills to accommodate diverse performance
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Curriculum for Transferable skills
A
particular
educational
strength
model
for
of
developing
new
multiple/transferable
skills is that students can easily transfer their
knowledge and skills to other degree courses or
to new job’s roles.
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Research- based Approach (Nexus of Healey)
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Research-based and Multiskill Learning
 As for engineering students research findings and new
engineering
development
can
help
to
finalise
the
understanding of an engineering concept, or learn about
problem
solving
in
greater
scale.
Research-oriented
teaching places more emphasis on developing new ideas
and multidisciplinary skills, which is a key factor in today’s
employment success
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Interdisciplinary Approach for Research-based
Teaching: the Engineering Modelling
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New Engineering Curriculum at the University of Melbourne
(the use of Math- Works Tools (Engineering Modelling))
 Engineering
students
at
Melbourne
University
(Mechanical
Engineering department) use MATLAB, Simulink, and other
MathWorks software (research and engineering modelling tools)
 Benefited students throughout the entire engineering curriculum,
from first-year classes to advanced senior projects and graduate
research
 Students use these tools in coursework in many disciplines,
including engineering science, applied mathematics, finance,
economics, and medical science.
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Engineering Modelling R&D Investment Growth and Intensity
Across Major Countries

European countries are taking important measures to provide funding for education and training
in engineering modelling, including initiatives to foster industrial collaboration to be able to
compete with the global engineering modelling innovation environment
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Indicative model for educating and training (aerospace/aircraft)
engineers which includes three main elements of education, training,
and research-based learning (Perth College UHI)
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Curriculum Model Performance

The model is built based on the performance observation of undergraduate degree and non-
degree trainee students (mechanics) in Perth College UHI and AST (Air Service Training –
aircraft engineering training organization) respectively

Engineering modelling was integrated into course-works and problem solving activities. This has
merited the research-based teaching and learning process

Students can now bridge between the context of a theory and the actual system’s practical
aspect of design, operation and maintenance.

The modelling technique for example, helps the students with understanding and applying an
underlying physical process of an engineering system into simulated environment where a
thorough (numerical) engineering analysis is configured.

Students’ feedback indicates how they are comfortable with processing the received
information/knowledge from the course and the application into realistic practical problems
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Model’s Skills’ Survey
 Working with others (communication, team working, leadership,
negotiation, networking)
 Solving problems (innovation, research, analytical skills, problem
solving)
 Work ready skills (Commercial awareness, Adaptability, Decision
making, Flexibility, Numeracy skills, IT Skills, Time Management,
Organisation
skills,
Initiative,
Skills
transferability,
Subject
specialising, Across-speciality roles)
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Survey Questionnaire
 where each of the skills can be developed
effectively;
at
work/training,
education
or
at
(University),
spare
time
at
(social
experience)
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Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, March, 2012
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Results of Surveyed Staff and Students on the Capacity of
Achieving Employability Skills in Education
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Conclusion
 Engineering curricula need to adapt new directions in teaching and training to
accommodate for the diverse and challenging employment environment.
 How students can develop multiple and transferable skills for the 21st century to
meet the demand for broader and specialized skills on graduation
 Developing and maintaining a teaching model must comprehend students’
education and training needs, market need and skills for the 21st century.
 Implementing the problem-based teaching technique by means of engineering
modelling proved to be an effective approach in complementing theoretical
knowledge and developing a wide range of engineering disciplinary skills.
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