Curriculum Design In Engineering And Management Institutes: A Students’ Perception

Curriculum Design In Engineering And Management Institutes: A Students’ Perception

Ms. Rachita Sambyal* Ms. Preeti Salathia**

ABSTRACT

Curriculum is a written instructional blueprint and set of material for guiding students acquisition of certain culturally valued concepts, procedures, intellectual dispositions ways & of reasoning and is constantly upgraded to cater market employability. The paper focuses on demographic-wise mean satisfaction regarding nature and suitability of curriculum in engineering and management institutes in Jammu & Kashmir State .The results of the study suggested that curriculum must be divided into subject based time table. Faculty must prepare a week work plan in advance and must distribute it among students so that both become aware about contents to be taught. The institute should sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with reputed professional/technical institutes like IIMs, IITs and reputed business houses etc. for knowledge sharing and getting best of their experiences. The curriculum should be innovative & motivating and supplemented with case studies, seminars, quizzes, inter college student exchange programme so as to broaden knowledge horizon & sharpen the logic cum reasoning power of student community.

Key Words: Curriculum, Perception, Higher education

INTRODUCTION

Higher education institutions are driven to engage in reforms by variety of forces which mostly come from globalisation, supply & demand issues, competition, accountability and technology (Mehralizadeh & Safaeemoghaddam, 2010). Highly competitive environment makes quality a key competitive weapon for attracting primary customers (students). Growth and survival of institutes is fully depending on their competitive working style, opinions of their customers/students about their performance and its contribution to economic growth. High quality of products & services are associated with customer satisfaction and it is a key point for survival of any organisation whether educational or any other (Thakkar et al., 2006). Quality of education plays a vital role to gain an edge over its competitors and hence, efficiency of an institution must relate its performance to quality dimensions. In general, service quality promotes customer satisfaction, stimulates intention to return and encourages recommendations (Nadiri & Hussain, 2005). Satisfied students are source of

competitive advantage and product of inspiration for newcomers & prospective future intake (Qureshi et al., 2010). The conceptualisation of service quality, its relationship to the satisfaction & value constructs and methods of evaluation have been a central theme of the education sector over recent years (Oldfield & Baron, 2000 and Soutar & McNeil, 1996). Measuring the quality of service in higher education is increasingly important for improving its reputation & profit earning capacity (Abdullah, 2006). Parasuraman et al. (1988) defined service quality as a global judgment or attitude relating to the overall excellence or superiority of the service and conceptualised a customers evaluation of overall service quality by applying Olivers (1980) disconfirmation model, as the gap between expectations and perception (gap model) of service performance levels. Though a dynamic & complex process to put in place, the ultimate aim of quality in higher education is to retain ultimate customers (students) by successful implementation efforts which includes diverse activities, cross- functional planning & implementation team, a broad commitment to the effort, a well-defined communication plan and willingness to have direct implementation programme to build credibility & success (Quinn et al., 2009). Focusing on the customer is an essential principle of service quality and the customers of the services of a higher education institution fall into five groups namely, the students, the employees, the public & the public sector, the industry and wider community (Martensen et al., 2000). Quality experts believe that, measuring customer satisfaction at an educational establishment might be regarded by educators as one of the greatest challenges of the quality movement in higher education (Quinn et al., 2009). The challenge, therefore, is not only to attract new customers (students) but also to retain the old customers. Complete customer satisfaction is the key for securing customer loyalty and generating long term financial performance (Jones & Sasser, 1995). CURRICULUM & ITS RELEVANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The word curriculum is derived from the Latin word currere which means to run. Thus, with the change of time the course of the race came to mean course of study. Hence, curriculum means a course to be run for reaching a certain goals. Curriculum has different meaning in different contexts (Beauchamp, 1986; Jackson, 1992; Pinar et al., 1995 and Walker, 2003). Although there are many definitions, there is only a few substantive distinctions among them (Jackson, 1992). Curriculum is the set of courses & content, offered at a school or university. A curriculum is prescriptive & is based

on a more general syllabus which merely specifies what topics must be understood and to what level to achieve a particular grade or standard. According to LeBlanc & Nguyen (1997), curriculum refers to the suitability of the academic programmes & course content, the number of courses offered and finally the extent to which the objectives of the academic programmes are explained to the students. Curriculum is a written instructional blueprint and set of material for guiding students acquisition of certain culturally valued concepts, procedures, intellectual dispositions and ways of reasoning (Battista & Clements, 2000 and Beauchamp, 1981). Cunnigham refers curriculum as the tools in the hands of the artists (the teacher) to mould his material (pupils) according to his ideals (aims & objectives) in his studio (school/college/ university). Curriculum includes all the learners experiences in or outside school that are included in a programme, which has been devised to help him to develop mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually and morally (Crow & Crow). Saiyidain (2005) defines the curriculum as an aid in the process of adjusting the child to the environment in which he will have to organise his activities later on. According to Secondary Education Commission (1953), Curriculum does not mean only academic subjects traditionally taught in institute but it includes totality of experiences that a pupil receives through the numerous activities that go in the institute, class room, library, laboratory, work-shop, play ground and in the manifold informal contacts between the teachers and the pupils. Curriculum is actually a medium to realise the goals and objectives of teaching a particular course of study. There are number of factors which affect the curriculum management. These factors are represented in Figure 1

FIGURE 1: FACTORS AFFECTING CURRICULUM MANAGEMENT*

Supervision & demonstration

Guideline & counselling

Tools & equipment

Curriculum

Examination & evaluation

Teachers

Pupils

Text books

*Source: Sharma, D.R. & Gupta, S.D. (2008), Teaching of Science, Malhotra Brothers, Educational Publishers, p.104.

The curriculum should be well balanced, properly graded, fairly broad based and approximately designed for meeting the needs and interests of the society & individual.

1.3 RESEARH METHODOLOGY

The present study assesses and measures the quality in two public and four private management & engineering institutes imparting higher education in Jammu & Kashmir State. The institutes are Institute of Management Sciences (I.M.S.), Priyadarshini Institute of Management Sciences (P.I.M.S.), Model Institute of Engineering & Technology (M.I.E.T), Mahant Bachittar Singh College of Engineering & Technology (M.B.S.C.E.T.), The Business School (T.B.S.) and Govt. College of Engineering & Technology (G.C.E.T.). Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data for the study was gathered through questionnaire, consisted of two sections

1. general and other to elicit information about curriculum design collected on five point Likert scale (5< —-1>) where 5 denotes strongly agree and 1 denotes strongly disagree. Suggestions were kept open ended to get student specific response. Items of curriculum were taken from Tsinidou et al.,( 2010) and Ravikant (et al., 2006). Census method was followed in collecting data from 215 management students but effective response was received from 166 management students representing a response rate of 77.21%. After pretesting on a sample of 30 engineering students, the final sample for engineering institutes was arrived at 128 which was rounded to 130. The survey was conducted during the months of February & March, 2011. Students of management institutes were contacted on every Monday whereas in engineering institutes rest days of the week were used. Convenient sampling technique was used to select 130 respondents, criteria adopted was availability and willingness to respond on the part of students.

   The secondary information was collected through books, journals, reports, internet and other unpublished documents pertaining to quality in higher education.

   The collected responses were reduced into few manageable and meaningful sets through factor analysis (SPSS, 16.0 version). It was carried with Principal Component Analysis along with Orthogonal Rotation Procedure of Varimax for summarising the original information with minimum factors and optimal coverage. The statements with factor loading less than 0.5 and Eigen value less than 1.00 were ignored for the subsequent analysis (Hair et al., 2006). 14 items of curriculum were retained after purification. The KMO value and Bartletts test of sphercity (Chi square values) of the dimension revealed the sampling adequacy for the factor analysis.

   To check the internal consistency in the data collected, Cronbach Alpha was worked out wherein the value about 0.70 is generally considered as acceptable criterion. The Alpha value of 0.916 was found of curriculum & convergent validity had also been found satisfactory. Mean was used to analyse data and to draw meaningful.

   LEVEL OF SATISFACTION REGARDING CURRICULUM AMONG RESPONDENTS OF MANAGEMENT & ENGINEERING INSTITUTES

   Perception about the various dimensions of curriculum among the respondents of five management and three engineering institutes is examined under the following sub-heads:

   1. Mean satisfaction among respondents of management institutes regarding nature of curriculum.

   2. Mean satisfaction among respondents of engineering institutes regarding nature of curriculum.

   3. Stream-wise, comparative mean satisfaction regarding nature of curriculum.

   4. Gender-wise, mean satisfaction regarding nature of curriculum.

   5. Age-wise, mean satisfaction regarding nature of curriculum.

   6. Year of admission-wise, mean satisfaction regarding nature of curriculum.

   7. Gender-wise, mean satisfaction regarding nature of curriculum in management institutes.

   8. Gender-wise, mean satisfaction regarding nature of curriculum in engineering institutes.

Table 1 reveals institute-wise mean satisfaction among management respondents with regard to curriculum. In I.M.S., mean score ranges between minimum (2.11) to maximum (3.03) for the statement The course work is completed on time and The institute assist for summer/project

training respectively. The highest mean satisfaction for P.I.M.S. value at 4.05 for the statement The curriculum enhances the competitive ability & employment needs of the students and minimum at

3.00 for the statement The curriculum is divided into weekly time table. In case of M.I.E.T., utmost mean satisfaction score at 3.46 for the statement The institute regularly update their web sites & notice boards and least mean satisfaction score at 2.81 for the statement Study material & handouts are provided to students. The mean satisfaction value of M.B.S.C.E.T. varies from lowest 2.36 for the statement The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly to the highest up to 3.57 for the statement The students performance is monitored through regular class test, quizzes, assignment, mini projects. Students at T.B.S. opines The institute adhere the schedule course work and The course work is completed on time with maximum mean satisfaction value 4.09 as compared to The institute has laboratory connection with market demand & curriculum with minimum mean satisfaction value at 3.70. Overall, the statement The institute assists for summer/project training has maximum mean satisfaction of 3.53 and the statement The institute has laboratory connection with market demand & curriculum has minimum of 3.03 mean satisfaction value. Whereas institution- wise, T.B.S. has highest mean level of satisfaction (3.92), followed by P.I.M.S. (3.55), M.I.T.E. (3.20), M.B.S.C.E.T.(3.04) and I.M.S.(2.58).

Mean level of satisfaction among respondents of engineering institutes regarding curriculum is shown in Table 2 The highest mean satisfaction for M.I.T.E. institute is observed for the statement The curriculum is divided into weekly time table at 3.35 and lowest at 2.93 for the statement The curriculum is innovative, adequate & supplement theory with practice. Among students of M.B.S.C.E.T., the utmost mean satisfaction value at 3.42 is found for the statement The students performance is monitored through regular class test, quizzes, assignment, mini projects and least for The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly at 2.44. In case of G.C.E.T., maximum mean satisfaction score at 2.65 is computed for the statement The curriculum enhances the competitive ability & employment needs of the students and minimum at 1.96 for The institute has laboratory connection with market demand & curriculum. On an average, maximum mean satisfaction value is for the statement The course work is completed on time at 3.03 and minimum at

2.58 for The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly. On the whole, mean

satisfaction in descending order is found to be at 3.12 (M.I.E.T.), 3.05 (M.B.S.C.E.T.) and least 2.27 (G.C.E.T.).

Table 3 presents stream-wise comparative mean satisfaction in relation to curriculum. Management students have maximum mean satisfaction at 3.49 for the statement The institute assists for summer/project training and minimum at 2.98 for the statement The institute has laboratory connection with market demand & curriculum. Students of engineering agree The course work is completed on time with mean satisfaction value at 3.14 as compared to The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly with mean satisfaction value 2.66. Overall, the statement The institute assists for summer/project training has maximum mean satisfaction level of 3.26 and the statement The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly has minimum mean satisfaction at 2.85. Stream-wise, management students are more satisfied with mean score 3.21 in comparison to engineering with mean score of 2.92.

Table 4 outlines gender-wise mean satisfaction in the level of curriculum. In case of female, maximm mean satisfaction value at 3.42 is observed for the statement The curriculum is divided into weekly time table and minimum at 2.91 for the statement The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly. The mean value of male fluctuates between lowest from 2.85 for two statements viz., The institute has laboratory connection with market demand & curriculum & The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly to the highest up to 3.24 for the statement The institute assists for summer/project training. On an average, maximum mean satisfaction value is found for the statement The institute assists for summer/project training at 3.30 and minimum at

2.88 for the statement The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly. Gender-wise, female are found to be more contended with mean satisfaction value 3.19 in contrast to male with mean satisfaction value 3.01 regarding curriculum related statements.

Table 5 highlights age-wise mean satisfaction score with regard to fourteen statements associated with curriculum. The highest mean satisfaction score in the age group of 18-21 years is found to be at 3.18 for The students performance is monitored through regular class test, quizzes, assignment, mini projects and lowest at 2.57 for The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly. Students under age group of 21-24 years satisfy with The institute assists for summer/project training at 3.45

as compared to The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly at 2.95. In the age group of above 24, the maximum mean satisfaction is accounted at 3.25 for the statement The course work is completed on time and minimum at 2.75 for the statement The institute has laboratory connection with market demand & curriculum. By and large, the statement having utmost mean satisfaction value is found to be at 3.17 for The course work is completed on time and least at 2.81 for The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly. In general, age-wise students under age group of 21-24 years are observed to be more satisfied with mean satisfaction value 3.16, followed by above 24 years age group at 3.05 and least followed by 18-21 years age group at 2.81.

Table 6 displays year of admission-wise mean satisfaction entailing fourteen statements of curriculum. Students taking admission in 2007-08 reports maximum mean satisfaction value at 3.20 for the statement The institute assist for summer/project training and minimum mean satisfaction value (2.73) for The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly. Students who joined in 2008-09 observes utmost mean satisfaction score at 3.19 for The students performance is monitored through regular class test, quizzes, assignment, mini projects and least score at 2.60 for The institute offer variety of elective modules on specialisation areas'. The highest mean satisfaction value of student register during 2009-10 is identified for the statement The institute assist for summer/project training at 3.49 and lowest at 2.98 for The institute has laboratory connection with market demand & curriculum. Overall, the statement The counselling, advising and discussion are held regularly has highest at 3.19 and the statement The students performance is monitored through regular class test, quizzes, assignment, mini projects has lowest mean satisfaction at 2.77. Students sign up in 2009-10 have maximum mean satisfaction (3.21) as compared to 2007-08 (2.99) and 2008-09 (2.82). Gender-wise, mean satisfaction regarding level of curriculum in management institutes is presented in Table 7. In case of I.M.S., female have highest mean satisfaction at 3.15 for the statement The institute assist for summer/project training & lowest for two statements The institute has laboratory connection with market demands & curriculum & The course work is completed on time in relationship to male who have maximum mean satisfaction of 2.75 for the two statements The institute regularly update their web-sites & notice boards & The institute assist for summer/project training & minimum of 1.50 for The course work is completed on time. Female of P.I.M.S. are

highly satisfied (4.67) for The curriculum enhances the competitive ability & employability needs of the students & less satisfied (3.33) for the two statements The curriculum is divided into weekly time-table & The institute offer variety of elective modules on specialisation areas whereas male have maximum mean satisfaction of 3.70 for The institute adhere the schedule of course work & minimum of 2.70 for the two statements The curriculum is divided into weekly time-table & Study material & hand outs are provided to students. In M.I.E.T., the satisfaction among female fluctuates highest from 3.83 (The curriculum is divided into weekly time-table) to lowest 2.72 (The counselling, advising & discussions are held regularly) and among male satisfaction ranges from 3.50 for The institute regularly update their web-sites & notice boards to 2.80 for Study material & hand outs are provided to students. In M.B.S.C.E.T., female are more satisfied for the statement at 3.69 for the statement The institute adhere the schedule of the course work & less satisfied at 2.25 for The counselling, advising & discussions are held regularly in comparison male have maximum satisfaction (3.67) for The institute assist for summer/project training & minimum mean (2.42) for The curriculum is divided into weekly time-table. Among female of T.B.S. the statement The course work is completed on time has highest mean satisfaction at 4.42 & the statement Study material & handouts are provided to students has minimum mean value of 3.83 but male are more satisfied at 4.05 with the three statements The institute assist for summer/project training, The curriculum is reviewed & redesigned according to the needs & The institute adhere the schedule of the course work and less satisfied at 3.52 for The institute has laboratory connection with the market demands & curriculum. In nutshell, female have highest mean satisfaction of 3.73 for The students performance is monitored through regular class tests, quizzes, assignments, mini projects etc & lowest at 3.09 for The institute offer variety of elective modules on specialisation areas whereas male are more satisfied (3.39) for the statement The institute assist for summer/project training & less satisfied (2.82) for Study material & hand outs are provided to students.

Table 8 exhibits gender-wise, mean satisfaction regarding level of curriculum in engineering institutes. The female of M.I.E.T. have high mean value at 3.95 for the statement The counselling, advising & discussions are held regularly & low mean at 2.59 for the statement Study material & hand outs are provided to students in contrary male are more satisfied with the statement The

institute assist for summer/project training with mean value of 3.50 & less satisfied with the statement The institute has laboratory connection with market demands & curriculum with mean value of 2.83. As far as female of M.B.S.C.E.T. are concerned, they have low mean value of 2.71 for the statement The counselling, advising & discussions are held regularly & high mean value of 3.63 for the statement The students performance is monitored through regular class tests, quizzes, assignments, mini projects etc. whereas male have high mean satisfaction for the statement The course work is completed on time at 3.38 & low for the statement The counselling, advising & discussions are held regularly at mean value of 2.14. Female of G.C.E.T. have maximum mean value at 3.80 for the statement The institute offers variety of elective modules on specialisation areas & minimum mean value at 1.50 for the two statements The curriculum is divided into weeklytime- table & Study material & handouts are provided to students in comparison to male who have high mean value at 2.67 for the statement The curriculum enhances the competitive ability & employability needs of the students & low mean value of 1.94 for the statement The institute has laboratory connection with market demands & curriculum. In totality, female are more satisfied with the statement The institute offers variety of elective modules on specialisation areas & less with the statement Study material & handouts are provided to students with mean value of 3.33 & 2.45 respectively and male have high mean value at 3.07 for the statement The coursework is completed on time & low mean value at 2.54 for the statement The counselling, advising & discussions are held regularly.

CONCLUSION AND STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS

Curriculum in all the management institutes must be divided into subject based time table. Faculty must prepare a week work plan in advance and must distribute it among students so that both become aware about contents to be taught.The institute should take help of Information Technology by establishing smart classroom, video conferencing facilities, EDUSAT facilities, etc.The library must provide the facility of e-library system so that student can have the advantage of accessibility and time.The institute should sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with reputed professional/technical institutes like IIMs, IITs and reputed business houses etc. for knowledge

sharing and getting best of their experiences.Collaborative learning with reputed institutes abroad be encouraged as it will broaden knowledge horizon of students.

For engineering institutes standardised study material should be developed and kept in library so that the students are provided with the minimum acceptable or threshold level of learning. The library should be equipped with good number of books of latest edition of various national & international publications.The curriculum should be innovative & discourage learning by rote. Course contents be supplemented with case studies, seminars, quizzes, inter college student exchange programme so as to broaden knowledge horizon & sharpen the logic cum reasoning power of student community.The institute should have web based portal which can be access by the students and faculty of the institutes for timely dissemination of information & knowledge sharing.Modern technology such as OHPs, LCDs and web based technologies be used along with traditional class room teaching.

REFERENCES

Mehralizadeh, Yadoolah and Safaeemoghaddam, Massoud (2010), The Applicability of Quality Management Systems and Models to Higher Education, The TQM Journal, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 175-187.

Nadiri, Halil and Hussain, Kashif (2005), Perceptions of Service Quality in North Cyprus Hotels, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 17, Issue 6, pp. 469 480.

Pandi, A. Pal; Rao, U.Surya and Jeyathilagar, D. (2009), A Study on Integrated Total Quality Management Practices in Technical InstitutionsStudents Perspective, International Journal of Education Administration, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 17-30.

Qureshi, Tahir Masood; Shaukat, Muhammad Zeeshan and Hijazi, Syed Tahir (2010), Service Quality SERVQUAL Model in Higher Educational Institutions: What Factors are to be Considered?, Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, Vol. 2, No. 5, pp.281-291.

Sakthivel P.B. (2007), Top Management Commitment and Overall Engineering Education Excellence, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 259-273.

Thakkar, Jitesh; Deshmukh, S.G. and Shastri, Anil (2006), Total Quality Management (TQM) in Self Financed Technical Institutes, Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 54-74.

Thakkar, Jitesh; Deshmukh, S.G. and Shastree, Anil (2006), Total Quality Management (TQM) in Self Financed Technical Institutes, Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 54-74.

Tsinidou, Maria; Gerogiannis, Vassilis and Fitsilis, Panos (2010), Evaluation of the Factors that Determine Quality in Higher Education: An Empirical Study, Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 227-244.

WEBSITES

www.mazur.net/works/umcoetqm.pdf, Last visited on 20-09-2011. www.iaeng.org/publication, Last visited on 20-09-2011.

http://ssrn.com/abstract, Last visited on 20-09-2011. http://hdl.voced.edu.au, Last visited on 20-09-2011.

www.career_development_help.com, Last visited on 11-10-2011. www.mnmk.ro, Last visited on 16-10-2011.

*Source: Survey

**1 stands for The curriculum is innovative, adequate & supplement theory with practice; 2 The curriculum enhances the competitive ability & employability needs of the students; 3 The institution regularly update their web-sites & notice boards; 4 The institute assist for summer/project training; 5 The institute has interesting module content/books; 6 The curriculum is divided into weekly time-table; 7 The institute has laboratory connection with market demands & curriculum; 8 The institute offers variety of elective modules on specialisation areas; 9 The curriculum is reviewed & redesigned according to the needs; 10 The students performance is monitored through regular class tests, quizzes, assignments, mini projects etc.; 11 The conselling, advising & discussions are held regularly; 12 Study material & hand outs are provided to students; 13 The institute adhere the schedule of course work & 14 The course work is completedon time.

TABLE 2: MEAN SATISFACTION AMONG RESPONDENTS OF ENGINEERING INSTITUTES REGARDING LEVEL OF CURRICULUM*

*Source: Survey

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TABLE 3: STREAM-WISE COMPARATIVE MEAN SATISFACTION REGARDING LEVEL OF CURRICULUM*

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*Source: Survey

TABLE 4: GENDER-WISE MEAN SATISFACTION REGARDING LEVEL OF CURRICULUM*

*Source: Survey

TABLE 5: AGE-WISE MEAN SATISFACTION REGARDING LEVEL OF CURRICULUM*

*Source: Survey

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TABLE 6: YEAR OF ADMISSION-WISE MEAN SATISFACTION REGARDING LEVEL OF CURRICULUM*

Vol. 1 Issue 9, NIoSvSeNm:b2e2r-782-0011281

*Source: Survey

TABLE 7: GENDER-WISE MEAN SATISFACTION REGARDING LEVEL OF CURRICULUM IN MANAGEMENT INSTITUTES*

*Source: Survey

TABLE 8: GENDER-WISE MEAN SATISFACTION REGARDING LEVEL OF CURRICULUM IN ENGINEERING INSTITUTES*

Vol. 1 Issue 9, NIoSvSeNm:b2e2r-782-0011281

*Source: Survey