Pre-exit survey of final year students to assess the mechanical engineering curriculum

As part of the goals to provide excellent educational opportunities to students, most undergraduate programs in engineering on different continents seek some form of accreditation, be it a part of a national requirement or part of a global initiative. The mechanical engineering program at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) is one such program that prepares many students for engineering practice. As with all such programs, there is always the need to evaluate, assess and institute measures to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning methods to better prepare students for the global environment. As part of an initiative of the Carnegie Africa Diaspora Fellowship Program, the mechanical engineering department hosted a Fellow from Howard University, Washington DC to interact with colleagues and students at the UJ to discuss and share best-practice ideas on enhancing teaching and learning. As a start, a survey was prepared and administered to first-semester final year students to assess the learning outcomes of the department and to gather additional information about other factors such as faculty, advising and mentoring, the curriculum, and technology utilization in the curriculum. Overall, the students ranked the learning outcomes and other measures very highly except for the lack of opportunities to enhance managerial and entrepreneurial skills (soft skills) and the to interact with potential employers while matriculating through program. The use of technological tools for engineering applications is highlighted as one of the areas that can be enhanced with minimal investments to improve the learning of engineering subjects.