Case Study

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Case Study UCC

• Accred BE degree in Civil Engineering
• QA Dept of Civil Environmental Eng

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J Philip Okane PhD CEng

• Professor of Civil Engineering (1845)
• Head of Department of Civil Env Eng
• Former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, UCC
  and NUI

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In 2000 Combined QA Accred With Elec Eng

• IEI recommendations for continued accreditation
  of our 3rd level degree
• Up-grade labs!
• Reported under-resourcing to Dept of ESc in 2 ex
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• Strategic plan 2000-2005, on our own!
• UCC QA Office not satisified with combination
• No self-assessment
• No QA of 4th or 5th levels

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In Last Week of May 2005 Back-to-back QA
Accred

• Separated from Elec Microelectronic Eng
• IEI
• Red book!
• UCC QA office
• Stable procedures
• All QA docs on the UCC intranet!

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IEI Accred in Late May 2005

• Red book - 2004!
• Training to meet the red book oct 2004
• Chair of accred panel at CIT jan 2005
• Chair of accred panel at NUIG mar 2005
• Accred of IEI by washington accord
• Univ of missouri at rolla
• Univ of newfoundland at st. Johns
• Univ of hong kong
• Success!

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IEI Accred in Late May 2005

• Deadline for submission of docs
• mid April 2005
• Begin
• January 6
• Declare emergency
• Engage with the process
• Run as fast as possible
• Aim to set the national standard!
• Relational database of docs
• Deliver both hardcopy and CD
• Useful for other purposes
• our website, recruiting new staff and students,
  publicity

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Contents of CD ROM, now on our website!
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• Structure of Documentation.doc
• This folder contains the following sub-folders.
•  
• MainDocument main accreditation document and
  appendix G.
• NavigationalTool this folder contains three
  sub-folders. YearMatrices with the learning
  modules on a year by year basis.
  LearningOutcomesMatrices - with programme areas
  y-by-y basis.BookofModules - all the module
  descriptions.
• MultimediaHomoFaber virtual exhibition and
  supporting
• Academic Papers on curriculum.

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Working backwards from final year, each year
matrix shows how modules CE4001, CE4002 deliver
all 6 programme outcomes in the six learning
areas. For example, the learning outcomes for
module CE4001 determine the hits in the matrix
below.
Each module entry is hot-linked to the book of
modules.
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YearMatrix for final year
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LearningOutcomeMatrix
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The four Books of Modules
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CE4001
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CE4001
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CE4001
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CE4001
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Textbooks - mandatory Johnston, S., Gostelow, P.,
Jones, E. and Fourikis, R. ENGINEERING AND
SOCIETY An Australian Perspective. ISBN 0 06
312145 X. Harper Educational, Pymble, NSW.
1995.   Venables, J. Communication Skills for
Engineers and Scientists ISBN 0852954557.
Institution of Chemical Engineers, London. 2002
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Web sites http//www.irishplanninginstitute.ie/in
dex.jsp http//www.pleanala.ie/conduct.html http/
/www.umsl.edu/rkeel/280/soconstr.html http//www.
iei.ie/ethics/codeofethics.pasp Related
texts   Engineering and Society   Ferguson,
Eugene S. Engineering and the Minds Eye ISBN
0-262-06147-3. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
1993.   Latour, Bruno Science in Action How to
follow Engineers and Scientists through
Society. ISBN 0-674-79291-2. Harvard University
Press. 1987.
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(No Transcript)
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The QA Exercise
All staff elect a Chair who is not the
Professorial Head of Department. All staff elect
a small committee for the QA exercise. The HOD is
a member of the committee.
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Staff, student, graduate and employer
Questionnaires

• The primary objective is to enable the gathering
  of views on all aspects of the work of the
  department and, in particular, any suggestions
  for improvement.

Self-assessment!
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Benchmarking

• Within ireland
• None relevant!
• Position not accepted by the QA office
• Asked the professorial head to do it
• Outside ireland
• RAE procedure in the UK
• Extern examiners from MIT
• Professor of structural engineering from the TU
  helsinki

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Chair of Dept QA Committee

• Writes the internal QA report
• New mission statement
• Summary of self-assessment reports
• Recommendations
• Primary document for external QA panel

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Accred and QA Exercises

• Complementary
• Best done back-to-back
• Prepare in 2.5 months
• Defend in 1 week
• Use IT for maximum continuity
• Accred far more significant than QA
• Problem of credibility of recommendations

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The Dialectic of the Universities

• Contradictions
• Must balance the books
• Cannot charge undergraduate fees
• State grant in decline
• Must pay national wage agreements
• Non-EU students pay fees and displace Irish
  students

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The Dialectic of the Universities

• Contradictions
• Professors must
• Lead academically
• Follow Governing Body
• Not show independence of thought action
• Not mention ethics
• Raise money to balance the books

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In a room under the stands of the University of
Chicago's sport stadium.
Enrico Fermi 1901-1954
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A small neutron source was placed on the floor.
Then more and more graphite pieces were put on
it, all of which contained a little uranium
ball. Control rods of cadmium were inserted to
absorb neutrons. It went critical chain
reaction of slow neutrons December 2,
1942 Health Safety?
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The "suicide squad", with borated water filled
pails
SCRAM, "Safety Control Reserve Axed Man".
The great and good