A Comparative Analysis of Undergraduate Engineering and Technology Management Education Programs in the United States

Engineering management education: trends, concerns, and open questions

“…2 By the mid-70s, the field of engineering management in the USA universities has been showing a very strong growth pattern, even though till 1987 only graduate and postgraduate programs and no undergraduate programs in engineering and technology management could be identified [1] and [4]. The earlier growth was in the United States, but in the last fifteen years, other industrialized countries in Western Europe, Australia and Asia have started to develop degree programs just as rapidly as the USA and a large number of universities all over the world is now offering courses in the area of engineering and technology management both at the undergraduate and graduate level.…”

“…From the analysis of several engineering management programs some concerns do emerge: -Even though since late 70s there has been an exponential growth in undergraduate and graduate engineering and technology management programs, and in many cases there are strong commonalities in the engineering management curricula in the single countries, and engineering management has established itself as a strong discipline with educational degrees, academic journals, technical and professional societies and research projects 2 throughout the world, there is still no agreement relatively to the body of knowledge required to establish an engineering management curriculum nor are there established benchmarks all over the world. A great variety and flexibility exist in the engineering management programs that sometimes are domain dependent and utilize usually specialization tracks such as civil engineering, environmental engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, systems engineering, biomedical engineering, etc., usually focusing on specific characters and needs of the engineering managers 3 , while some other times are domain independent and identify degree courses anew.…”

“…Reference [14] adopts a combination of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and QFD in curriculum design to improve the process efficiency and to reduce opportunities for those causes of failures. As reference [2] emphasizes, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, unifying models, theories and curricula are needed for the codification of a body of knowledge. International benchmarks should also be established to assess the quality of engineering management programs and assure that the structure of programs will provide the new engineering managers with a sound body of knowledge.…”