Engineering conventional and engineering technology programs in Malaysian universities

One of the goals of the education system in Malaysia is to ensure the development of highly educated, highly skilled and strongly motivated human resources to fulfill the needs of the nation and the requirements of the industry as well as to support the country's aspiration to be an industrialized nation. Thus, several government-funded universities in Malaysia are required to offer engineering technology programs. These universities are known as Malaysian Technical Universities Network (MTUN), comprising Universiti Teknikal Melaka, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn and Universiti Malaysia Perlis with a mission to educate and train highly skilled manpower that can contribute to the world class industrial nation. The purpose of engineering technology programs is to complement existing engineering conventional programs. This study reports the differences between engineering conventional programs and engineering technology programs in terms of curriculum design and delivery and assessment of student learning. This knowledge is important as it will differentiate the job scope of the graduates from both programs. The data collection method in this study was qualitative method involving document analysis and focus group interviews. The documents analyzed were Malaysian Qualifications Agency Program Standards for Engineering and Engineering Technology and Malaysian Engineering Program Accreditation Manual. The teaching staffs from MTUN were interviewed for data triangulation. The results indicate that there exist differences in the curriculum design and delivery and assessment of student learning for both programs

Measuring satisfaction of engineering technology students in Malaysian public universities

This paper reports the results of a study on Engineering Technology student satisfaction at Malaysian public universities. Engineering Technology undergraduate programs are relatively new in Malaysia. The programs aim to produce highly-skilled human resources to meet the industry requirements. The level of student satisfaction will affect future student enrollment in the programs, and thus will subsequently affect the quantity and quality of future graduates. It is, therefore important to measure student satisfaction with their experience in the programs to support institutional strategic planning and decision making to improve the programs. A survey questionnaire was designed and administered to 491 students from three public universities offering engineering technology programs in Malaysia. Survey items were subdivided into three main groups, namely teaching and learning experience, facilities provided, and the programs as a whole. Statistical analysis was conducted using PASW Statistics. Findings show that students were highly satisfied with their learning experience, the facilities provided, and the overall programs

Laboratory facilities for engineering technology programs in Malaysian technical universities

Malaysia has put emphasis on Engineering Technology programs in its effort to be a developed country by 2020. This demand for Engineering Technology programs to be implemented is to increase the number of technical graduates for the industry needs. The Malaysian Technical University (MTUN) institutions and UniKL are among the higher education institutions in Malaysia that offer Engineering Technology programs at the undergraduate level. These institutions main agenda is to produce skilled work-ready graduates. Being in its infancy, MTUN has yet to produce their first batch of Engineering Technology graduates. This article reports the evaluation of the facilities at MTUN, as part of a bigger research scope. The data collection method in this study is mainly qualitative, which comprise of interviews, observations and document analysis. The interview protocol and observation checklist were developed and validated by experts and found reliable after running a set of pilot interview and observation. Interviews were carried out on the lecturers, whereas observations were made in the classroom, laboratories and a teaching factory. Document analysis that was carried out was on the Code of Practice for Program Accreditation (COPPA) document. This study also adopted the quantitative method using survey questions on students’ satisfaction of the facilities related to the application-based practice oriented at the institutions. From the laboratories observations, interviews with the lecturers, analysis of COPPA document and survey questionnaires answered by students, it can be concluded that the laboratory facilities provided by the three MTUN are adequate for the current number of students