Need for education process er engineering

Abstract

There has been continuous improvement of curricula and tha current process of educcation have evolved Department of Mechanical Engineering, University o! ZZZTnggerrt by the major structural and curricula changes that are taking place at the University of Moratuwa now under the Government's new higher education fool icy for Sri Lanka, the Department considered it as timely to recast its educational strategy. This action has been fuelled by drastic changes that have been taking place in a cumulative manner in the demand pattern for mechanical engineers in general as well as mechanical engineering education system in the University. As has been pointed out by many researchers into Business Process Re-engineering (1), the time is ripe now for changing from the strategy of continuous improvement temporarily, for a complete Re-engineering exercise as drastic change is the need of the hour in response to the changes, both external as well as internal, that have taken place resulting in a cumulative effect on educational performance. The author presents a model that has been validated based on his experience of over 25 years in the field of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and Management. His conclusions are based on his study of the changing teaching environment, in Sri Lanka and overseas and the industrial environment mainly seen through a significant number of industry based projects and other activities he has conducted. The general conclusion is that drastic changes are now necessary in both mechanical engineering industry and educational curricula as well as in the related organisational structure for education in order to make mechanical engineering education competitive beyond 2000, in both local as well as global market.