A new framework for measuring the quality of outcomes-based engineering education

Rapid technological development, coupled with the recent growth of new engineering specialty areas, has led to the development of outcomes-based criteria for engineering education by a range of international engineering professional bodies. The emergence of outcomes-based approaches requires new instruments to measure the success, or otherwise, of engineering programs offered by Universities. This paper generated a theory-based preliminary conceptual framework for transnational engineering education and then tested the integrity of the theoretical framework through surveys of enrolled students, staff and representatives of employing agencies. The preliminary conceptual framework was found to have a high degree of conceptual validity, as well as some limitations. The findings of the surveys enabled a revised conceptual framework for transnational engineering education to be developed. The revised framework comprises outcomes and contributory dimensions. It has been transposed into a 13-dimension revised survey instrument consisting of twenty-five outcomes items clustered into five outcomes dimensions and forty-nine contributory items clustered into eight contributory dimensions