The Curriculum Development Process Of The New Engineering Education Program And Its Practices In Ethiopia The Case Of Three Higher Engineering Education Institutions

The overall aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the improvement of the engineeringrncurriculum development and engineering students’ learning in Ethiopia by utilizing bothrntheoretical and empirical enquiry. The study tried to provide insights into the major processes andrnfactors that influence engineering curriculum development and its implementation process inrngeneral and investigates the impact of the curriculum development and implementation processrnon the quality of engineering education and students’ learning, from the perspectives of stakernholders. The study is undertaken within three engineering higher education institutions. Thernresearch tried to provide answers for the following four research questions. (1) Why was thernengineering curriculum change initiated? And how was it developed? (2) How do deans, teachersrnand students view and describe engineering curriculum and the congruency between engineeringrncurriculum implementation and curriculum expectations? (3) What are the factors that influencedrnengineering curriculum development? (4) How do stakeholders assess their involvement inrnengineering curriculum design process and in its relevance? What are their present understandingrnof the new engineering graduates in terms of their possession of engineering knowledge, skillsrnand competencies? A qualitative multiple-case study design was employed to undertake thernstudy. Primary data were collected from purposely selected engineering teachers, students,rnindustry personnel, and experts from the MoE using in-depth interview and focus grouprndiscussion methods. Document analysis was also used as a source for secondary data. The datarncollected from the different sources were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis methodrnbased on inductive category development procedure. The findings of the study revealed that thernreform in engineering education and its curriculum development was driven by economic interest,rnwhich was expressed in terms of producing skilled human resource that would work in industryrnand boost its productivity. The idea of the reform and the curriculum development process was arntop-down process initiated by the ECBP under the leadership of MoCB. Teachers’ participation inrnthe curriculum development process was initially one of learning from the ECBP and organizingrnit in the curriculum; not in decision making. Industry’s involvement in engineering curriculumrnmatters was found to be occasional and not in a way it puts significant impact on curricularrndecisions. Curriculum implementation which involves teaching, learning, and assessment, wasrnknotted with multiple problems of: poor dissemination of the ideas of the reformed curricula,rndissatisfied teaching staff and teachers absenteeism, teaching and learning crippled with shortagernof resources, shallow students’ learning, and pseudo assessment mechanism. Based on thernfindings of the study, a number of recommendations are forwarded to improve engineeringrncurriculum development and students’ learning which include the need for more participation ofrnstakeholders in the process of curriculum development, the necessity of creating more awarenessrnand understanding of the changes in curriculum within the engineering teaching staff, the need forrnmore and continuous training of engineering teachers to update and improve their teaching andrnassessment skills abreast their engineering profession. The need for the development ofrneducational policies that support the alignment of engineering teaching with assessment, andrnfinally areas for further theoretical research and empirical enquiry are also suggested to supportrnthe improvement of the engineering teaching and learning development within the engineeringrnand technology institutions in Ethiopia.rnKey words: Engineering curriculum, curriculum development, engineering teaching, qualitativernresearch

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