Accreditation of Engineering Programs

1
Accreditation of Engineering Programs

• The case of UTN, Argentina

2
UTN

• Was created in 1952 to foster industrial
  development in the country
• Conceived as an educational space closely bound
  to the production field
• Aiming at the education of factory engineers who
  had been former students at technical schools
  working in different disciplines

3
UTN

• 29 faculties all over the country
• 14 engineering programs
• 122 engineering careers
• 53,500 students representing more than 40 of
  all engineering students in the country

4
accreditation process in argentina

• As well as in the rest of Latin America,
  assessment and accreditation processes started to
  gain momentum in the 90s
• After the National Law of Higher Education was
  passed The National Commission for University
  Assessment and Accreditation (CONEAU) was created
  as a decentralized, self-sufficient organization
  acting as an agency in charge of institutional
  evaluation by universities and of career
  accreditation of courses considered of social
  interest, as is the case with medicine,
  engineering and others.

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Basic criteria for accreditation

• Basic Curricular Contents
• a basic, synthetic matrix is provided, from which
  curricular guidelines and study plans stem out,
  emphasizing the need for developing an
  entrepreneurial and proactive attitude.
• Course Load/ Hourly workload
• for a period of 5 years a courseload of 3750
  contact hours is recommended.
• Also, it regulates a minimum 55 as theory,
  practice and laboratory in four groups of
  subjects
• Basic Sciences, 750 hrs
• Basic Technologies, 750 hrs
• Applied Technologies, 575 hrs
• Complementary (Econ., Leg., Environ., etc.), 175
  hrs..

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Basic criteria for accreditation

• Criteria for Practical Training Intensity
• at least 750 hrs for experimental training are
  recommended
• 200 hrs for experimental and/or field work
• 150 hrs for engineering problem resolution
• 200 hrs for project activities
• 200 hrs for Supervised Professional Practice in
  productive and/or service sectors.
• Accreditation Standards
• distributed in Institutional Context (10
  standards), Study and Education Plan (16),
  Academic Body (8), Under-graduates and Graduates
  (6), Infrastructure and Equipment (11).

7
The Improvement Process

• As from diagnoses established by CONEAU reports,
  careers were devoted for a period of three years
  to substantiate committed improvement plans. Some
  of the actions taken include
• Approval of the regulatory framework for
  Supervised Professional Practice by Resolution of
  the Superior University Council (CSU)
• Substantiation of public examinations for
  faculty members More than 3000 positions
  examined
• Postgraduate Education for faculty members
  Engineering specializations and post-graduate
  courses, financed by the university
• Follow-up and Student Support Program
  Designation of over 400 tutors and student
  fellowship programs
• Doctoral Scholarships Programs by UTN Superior
  Council An average of eight scholarships a year
  were awarded
• Doctoral Scholarships by the National Research
  and Technology Council (CONICET)
• PROMEI Sub-program for Postgraduate Fellowships

8
The Improvement Process

• Young researchers localization Program by CSU at
  UTN
• Program for admission of researchers from
  Institutes at CONICET
• Programs for Initial Fellowships for Research and
  Development by the Superior Council (BINID) at
  UTN
• Subprogram for localization of research faculty
  members by PROMEI
• Subprogram for upgrading commitment at PROMEI
  more than 450 faculty members were upgraded to
  full-time commitment
• Increase of bibliography and publications were
  well above evaluation staff expectations
• Laboratory equipment acquisition mainly for
  basic sciences, satisfying student demand
• Building infrastructure improvement program with
  an investment above 20 million dollars

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Final analysis

• 2002 Aeronautics, Civil, Electrical,
  Electro-mechanical, Electronical, Mechanical and
  Chemical representing 78 university terminals in
  all which had been independently assessed.
• 2004 Industrial and Metallurgical Engineering
  were included, which by the end of 2006
  represented a total of 9 careers.
• 2008 the accreditation process was restarted.
  During this stage, CONEAU began to audit the
  degree of fulfillment for improvement programs
  committed by Academic Units.
• 2009 Information Systems was included. The
  process will begin next year
• In general, regulations dated early in 2009
  establish a very high degree of attainment.

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Final analysis

• Some numbers
• 319 engineering careers under accreditation
  process in Argentina
• 104 of them in our University
• 85 accredited
• 19 in process

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Final analysis
Degrees and Faculties Aeronautical Civil Electrical Electromechanical Electronical Industrial Mechanical Metallurgic Naval Fishing Chemical Information Systems Textile
Avellaneda   ? ?   ? ? ?       ?    
Bahía Blanca   ? ?   ?   ?            
Buenos Aires   ? ?   ? ? ? ?   ? X
C. del Uruguay   ?   ?               X  
Córdoba   ? ?   ? ? ? ?     ? X  
Delta     ?       ?       ? X  
Gral. Pacheco   ? ?       ?            
Haedo ?       ? ? ?            
La Plata   ? ?     ? ?       ? X  
Mendoza   ?   ? ?           ? X  
Paraná   ?   ? ?                
Rafaela   ?   ?   ?              
Resistencia       ?             ? X  
Río Grande           X       ?    
Rosario   ? ?       ?       ? X  
San Francisco       ? ?           ? X  
San Nicolás     ?   ? ? ? ?          
San Rafael   ?   ?   ?              
Santa Fe   ? ?     ? ?         X  
Tucumán   ? ?   ?   ?         X  
Villa María         ?   ?       ? X  
Concordia   ? ?                    
Confluencia         X           X    
Chubut                   ?      
La Rioja   X   X X                
Reconquista       ?                  
Río Gallegos       X   ?              
Trenque Lauquen         ?            
Venado Tuerto   ?   ?                  
Mar del Plata                 ? ?     ?
? Accredited
X In process
? Not required
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Conclusions

• We have described the main characteristics for
  engineering careers accreditation process at UTN.
• Dedicated almost exclusively to the teaching of
  engineering, this university has been
  transversely and deeply impacted by these
  processes constituting, in our opinion, the
  largest Latin American institution having the
  totality of careers accredited or under the
  process of accreditation.
• Thanks to the prevailing culture of
  self-assessment, far from being perceived as a
  threat, because of its autonomy, these processes
  constitute a powerful tool for permanent
  university community improvement at UTN.
• Also, the institution attempt to offer solutions
  to flaws and shortcomings detected has made
  possible to obtain the necessary financing for
  funding programs.

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Conclusions

• Based on the diagnoses before and after the
  accreditation process, it can be concluded that
  there are certain factors that have given UTN
  programs distinctive characteristics making it a
  highly appreciated university due to its quality
  and adaptability to the productive needs of the
  country. These factors may be summarized as
• the application of a new curriculum filling the
  accreditation standards
• actions taken to foster postgraduate education of
  faculty members and their resulting participation
  in research
• outreach and postgraduate activities
• allocation of resources from funding programs
  that allowed for the reconversion of part-time to
  full-time faculty positions and new research
  teachers and
• modernization of the equipment.

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Conclusions

• A summary projection into the future allows us to
  infer that being able to achieve continuity and
  sustainability of the improvement attained in
  such a short period of time in our group of
  colleges will become a key element for our future
  performance as an educational institution
  consolidating its position in the national and
  international context by helping generate human
  resources of the quality deemed necessary for
  technological development of the country and
  region.

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Thank you
Questions?
www.utn.edu.ar