| Abstract: | American higher education is characterized by enormous program and quality diversity among the 3842 institutions (1998 data) with two- or four-year programs (of which 319 institutions have one or more engineering programs). Sharp distinctions emerge along several axes: funding (private vs public), size (hundreds to tens of thousands of students) and mission (research vs teaching). Recently the accreditation organizations for universities broadly and for engineering specifically have addressed this diversity by moving to outcomes-based assessments. Rather than judging student performance in terms of classes passed, institutions must (1) define their distinctive mission, (2) design a curriculum to help students achieve these goals, (3) assess student learning outcomes according to both institutional and professional criteria, and (4) create a culture of continuous improvement to belter align steps (1) and (2). Adoption of similar procedures may help European engineering institutions to measure programs across boundaries and to foster ‘trans-national recognition’. |
