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Driving Continuous Program Improvement by Integration of Assessment into Strategic Planning

Andrew J. Wilson and Hassan E. Alfadala University of Qatar

Abstract

The College of Engineering at the University of Qatar is seeking to become among the first engineering programs in the Middle East to be evaluated by ABET using the EC2000 Criteria. The Chemical Engineering program’s assessment and continuous improvement activities have evolved over the course of five years to move from emphasizing assessment measures to focusing on targeted areas of improvement and targeted assessment. The next step has been to integrate the curriculum assessment activities into the overall strategic planning and continuous improvement processes to insure that targeted areas of improvement are measured and acted upon to drive the program toward the realization of its ultimate vision. This provides more clarity and direction to the program, by having all activities being consciously driven from the mission and vision statements of the institution.

Introduction

The Chemical Engineering program was established at the University of Qatar in 1980 when it admitted its first class of students. The program was for male students but in 2004, was opened for female students as well. In keeping with the values of the culture, these programs are offered in the separate male and female campuses of the University.

The program has had over 125 graduates since its founding and recently has been graduating about 12 to 15 students annually. The program currently has an enrollment of nearly 100 male students and with the addition of the women’s program will see the annual graduation numbers increase significantly. Ninety percent of the students are Qatari nationals.

The State of Qatar occupies a peninsula bordering Saudi Arabia with the island of Bahrain to the north and the United Arab Emirates to the south. The country has a land area approximately the size of the state of Connecticut and has a population of nearly 744,000 which includes about 200,000 Qatari nationals. The country was established in 1973.

Qatar is an oil producing country and a member of OPEC, but what truly sets Qatar apart is its reserves in natural gas. Qatar is ranked third in the world in natural gas reserves. The country possesses in a single field the largest unassociated gas reservoir. This resource has only recently begun to be exploited and 1996 marked the first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the North Field. The rapid development of this national resource has resulted in Qatar becoming a leading exporter of LNG and will become the “capital” of gas to liquids (GTL) manufacture. Over fifty billion dollars of capital investment will be made in the oil, gas, and petrochemical Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Alfadala, H., & Wilson, A. (2005, June), Driving Continuous Program Improvement By Integration Of Assessment Into Strategic Planning Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14779