An alternative approach to quality assessment in engineering education: Student engagement survey approach

Continuous assessment of the quality of engineering education is one of the necessities of improving the quality of the engineering education system. Despite national and international emphasis on internal and external evaluation in higher education, the use of this approach has not yet been a common practice in Iranian engineering education system. One of the reasons for this is the complexity and time-consuming implementation of this approach. But one can use alternative approaches that are easier to implement. Among these approaches is the survey of student engagement at university life. In this approach, two main questions are answered: (a) what are the activities of students in the university environment, and learning environments in general, and what is their quality?; and (b) what measures academic institutions take to enhance student learning? Towards applying the above-mentioned research, a descriptive-analytical research project was carried out with the aim of conducting a survey of student engagement at the engineering colleges of the country. The population under study was the students of engineering colleges affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. The necessary data was collected through a questionnaire administered to a sample selected from the entire engineering education system of the country. The results showed that the level of active academic participation of engineering students is not favorable. In addition, the interaction of students with academic members is rather weak and engineering students do not have a very satisfactory experience of university education. Also, their learning is not at the level that expected. Finally, students believe that the university has not improved their knowledge and skills to the level that they could enter the labor market.