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Session 1339

Assignment of Importance to Engineering Economy Topics by Master of Engineering Management Students

Paul Kauffmann and William Peterson Old Dominion University

Abstract

This paper describes preliminary findings of an ongoing study of Master of Engineering Management (MEM) students and the importance they assign to topics in a graduate level engineering economy course. The objective of this study is to identify topics deserving greater course emphasis based on either job impact or application to personal or professional growth. The study evaluated eleven topical areas by asking students to rate usefulness. The ratings were evaluated for differences based on application to job, professional growth, and public/ private sector employment. Preliminary findings are discussed in this paper and contrasts between public and private sector practices are examined.

I. Introduction

Master of Engineering Management (MEM) students offer a unique perspective to educators. Since most of these students are several years into their career, they have strong opinions regarding the value of course topics for the near term in the current job and in the long term for their professional and personal development. As a result, they judge the quality of course content, in large part, based on the likelihood of application. For many students, the MEM degree will be the last time in the traditional classroom. Consequently, it becomes the instructor’s challenge to provide topical emphasis and content that meets these diverse requirements.

Since many technical and engineering oriented students select MEM programs in lieu of alternative business related programs such as the MBA, MEM students have particularly high expectations related to financial analysis skills. Consequently, the MEM program must provide a high degree of the “business sense” that is perceived to be critical for climbing the organizational ladder and for the personal investment decisions that lead to personal financial success. The level of success in meeting these expectations is based in large part on the topics in the financial analysis course(s) such as graduate level engineering economics.

The study described in this paper targets improving understanding of the engineering economy topics valued by MEM students. A number of studies have examined the financial analysis tools that corporations employ [1,2]. But these studies did not track these tools into the engineering management work place at the operating manager (first level manager, second level manager,

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition ã 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Kauffmann, P., & Peterson, W. (2002, June), Importance Of Engineering Economy Topics As Seen By Master Of Engineering Management Students Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10080