Senior Engineering Students' Views on Mathematics Courses in Engineering

The aim of the study was to investigate senior engineering students' opinions on how the delivery of mathematics courses can be improved. A survey designed by the researcher was conducted on 605 (119 female, 486 male) prospective engineers to obtain feedback on how the mathematics courses they had taken in the engineering departments could have been improved. Data thus obtained were categorized according to themes, using qualitative analysis methods. The findings indicate that the senior engineering students' opinions can be categorized in 5 main and 16 sub themes. The main themes are: the content of the mathematics courses, the teaching style, the lecturer, the assessment process and the physical conditions of the classrooms. According to the results of this research, it is advisable that a commission consisting of faculty from engineering and mathematics departments collaborate on course content and in providing examples and problems that depict engineering applications of the mathematics taught. Use of such examples would solidify the need for mathematics in each specific area of engineering, while increasing the interest and motivation of engineering students towards the field.