OBJECTIVES OF THE ITEE ENGINEERING CURRICULUM

The objectives of the ITEE Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum degree program centre upon providing an environment wherein students are encouraged and stimulated to learn in multiple dimensions. We apply these objectives to each program of engineering for which we are responsible. These dimensions include:

A firm grasp of the basic scientific principles which underlie the relevant engineering technologies and the ability to apply this knowledge to formulate and solve real problems;
Detailed understanding of and insight into principles of discipline-specific engineering analysis;
Understanding of the relationships between the discipline-specific engineering technologies and technologies associated with other engineering disciplines;
Knowledge of the breadth of sub-disciplines which constitute the specific engineering discipline;
In-depth knowledge of specific sub-disciplines chosen by the student as areas of special interest;
Initiative, resourcefulness and inventiveness in applying engineering knowledge to the design of engineering systems;
Ability and inclination to continue learning throughout a professional career;
Strong oral and written communication skills; and

· A philosophical outlook, breadth of knowledge, and sense of values whereby the student is inclined and able to contribute across a wide range of human, economic and social arenas.

STRUCTURE OF THE ITEE ENGINEERING CURRICULUM

In 1994, the then Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering started looking at its subject offerings, the teaching loads of the staff, and the learning performance of the students with a view to improving all these areas. 1994 and 1995 were spent reviewing the situation, with numerous meetings with staff, students, and industry representatives in an effort to develop a better approach. In September 1995, an article appeared in the Proceedings of the IEEE [1] that described a radically new approach to electrical and computer engineering education that took place at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the USA. Following debate, the department agreed that the model developed at CMU would be adopted at UQ. We refer to the new engineering curriculum throughout this document by the acronym NEC.

At that time, the passage of most significance to the NEC in the CMU report was

"The prevailing philosophy of engineering education - teach first the basics in mathematics and science, follow with the exposition of engineering applications - has remained unchanged and unchallenged for more than four decades. While contributing to the creation of engineers who are current in specific technologies, we believe that the teaching of unmotivated math and science followed by incrementally updated technical courses, is fundamentally flawed. It contributes little to the education of engineers who can acquire new knowledge as necessary, cope with dynamically changing work environments or excel in non-traditional jobs. We believe the real impact in engineering education will be made only by looking at the curriculum as a whole, in the context of present technological and societal needs, and not just by constant repolishing of aging courses. There are advantages to be found in taking a fresh, unfettered look at the undergraduate curriculum."

The curriculum that resulted from our meetings has a significant similarity to that developed at CMU, but retains a strong flavour of the activities and interests of our local engineering environment. The key ideas of the UQ new engineering curriculum are:

Engineering courses begin in the first year, concurrent with mathematics, science, and an exposure to other engineering disciplines. The core of required "essential" engineering classes is small.
Area requirements across a spectrum of relevant, topical engineering areas replace most specific course requirements.
Breadth, depth and coverage are mandated across this spectrum of technical areas, but individual courses are not prescribed; students flexibly choose from among available topic areas.
Nearly three quarters of a year of the curriculum may be completely unconstrained.
A proportion of the "essential" engineering classes is allocated to the development and practice of team, management, and communications skills.

The architecture of the new engineering curriculum is essentially simple and comprises the following:

A common first year, with a mixture of mathematics, electrical and computer engineering, and programming engineering components.
NEC core requirements:
- A set of mathematics and physics courses
- A set of courses which focus on team and project management skills following on from a first year introductory course. Two courses cover a team design (4-person teams with a final year student mentor/manager) to ensure exposure to the unique problems of building concrete engineering artefacts in multidisciplinary teams using time, budget, and people management skills and to develop professional communication skills. There is an individual final year project which focuses on further developing the engineering approach to problem solving.
- A set of three discipline-specific fundamentals required of all NEC students. These courses are the gateway to all elective upper-level NEC subjects.
NEC introductory (or breadth) requirements, selected from across the set of specified topical areas in NEC, to ensure exposure to different styles of thinking, modelling, and problem solving.
NEC advanced (or depth) requirements, again selected across a broad range to provide students with in-depth knowledge of specific sub-disciplines chosen by the student as areas of special interest.
NEC coverage requirements, to ensure enough exposure to NEC courses to earn a degree called Bachelor of Engineering in any of the areas of Electrical Engineering, Computer Systems Engineering, Software Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, and soon to be announced Telecommunications Engineering and Electrical and Biomedical Engineering.
Free electives to be chosen by individual students based on their interests and goals.

THE CORE PROJECT PHILOSOPHY

Team project work and project management, through compulsory core units, provide the foundation for the New Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum degree program

First year engineering students are introduced to the first principles of team and project work through ENGG1000 An Introduction to Professional Engineering.

Second and third year engineering students become more project focused through ENGG2800 and ENGG3800 “Team Project” (or METR2800 and METR3800), two courses that cover team design (4-person teams with a final year student mentor/manager). The 4-person teams are currently formed with the following student composition; one member CSE, one EE, one SE, and one overseas student from any of the aforementioned categories, or in the case of METR 2800/3800 4-person Mechatronic teams. This team member mixture is necessary because of the hardware/software nature of the project, plus cultural diversity creates an environment for communication skills development. As well as a skill and cultural mix, teams are also assembled in GPA order, GPA 7’s working together, and so on for GPA 6’s, 5’s and 4’s. This GPA grouping is necessary; partly to satisfy students’ expectations, as in general a GPA 7 student has high expectations whereas a GPA 4 student is generally satisfied with scoring a 5; and partly to stop “free riders”, weak team members riding on the success of their stronger team-mates.

Final year CSE, EE, and SE engineering students undertake ENGG4800 “Project Management” where they become the mentor and project manger for “Team Project” teams, and ENGG4801/4802 “Project Thesis”. Both final year subjects have wide-ranging performance criteria as a method of assessment.

[1] Reengineering the curriculum: design and analysis of a new undergraduate Electrical and Computer Engineering degree at Carnegie Mellon University, Director, S.W.; Khosla, P.K.; Rohrer, R.A.; Rutenbar, R.A., Proceedings of the IEEE , Volume: 83 Issue: 9 , Sept. 1995, Page(s): 1246 -1269