Abstract
Curriculum is the primary factor that defines the competence and skill level of graduate industrial engineers as these professionals leave university and enter a dynamic industry that is affected by multiple social, economic, environmental, and political issues. If the curriculum is not adaptive, the quality of their education is compromised. This work proposes a rigid-skeleton flexible-body approach in which the architecture of the industrial engineering curriculum is rigid but has the flexibility, at a holistic level, to manipulate micro-components according to the needs of the industry. This work therefore examines the potential for atomic-type curriculum manipulation rather than molecular-type manipulation.
Highlights
AND BACKGROUNDAccording to Mialkki and Paatero [1], quality of education is currently a global priority, and unless education addresses the needs of industry, economic development may be significantly compromised
Fomunyam [8], who has researched the decolonisation of the South African engineering curriculum, emphasises the need to enhance curriculum change to liberate South African engineering education
Garousi et al [16] discuss software engineering programmes in a general sense, concluding that most programmes still focus more on theoretical topics, causing a discrepancy between practical skill requirements and the skills taught in class
Summary
Author affiliations 1 Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of South Africa, South Africa. # The author was enrolled for a PhD (Science, Engineering & Technology) degree in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of South Africa. Curriculum is the primary factor that defines the competence and skill level of graduate industrial engineers as these professionals leave university and enter a dynamic industry that is affected by multiple social, economic, environmental, and political issues. This work proposes a rigid-skeleton flexible-body approach in which the architecture of the industrial engineering curriculum is rigid but has the flexibility, at a holistic level, to manipulate micro-components according to the needs of the industry. Hierdie artikel steln starre-geraamte buigsame-liggaam benadering voor waarbinne die argitektuur van die bedryfsingenieurswese kurrikulum rigied is, maar met die nodige aanpasbaarheid om die nodige mikro komponente aan te pas by die industrie se behoeftes. Die artikel ondersoek dus die potensiaal vir atoomvlak kurrikulum manipulasie eerder as molekuulvlak manipulasie
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