FEATURE
INGENIEUR
Washington Accord-
Outcome-Based Education
Approach – A Practitioner’s
Perspective
By Ir. Rocky HT Wong
Anyone who reads the IEA’s policy paper
on: Graduate Attributes and Professional
Competencies; Version 3: 21 June 2013,
will appreciate that the first step (or phase) of
becoming a certified (or a registered, or licensed
engineer), is to get an engineering education,
stated therein as: “The fundamental purpose of
engineering education is to build a knowledge
base and attributes to enable the graduate to
continue learning and proceed to formative
development that will develop the competencies
required for independent practice.”
Institutions of Higher Learning educate
bright graduates and Industry trains
sharp engineers.
The term ‘graduates to continue learning’
implies learning as a university student, through
a substantial volume courses, cannot cover all
aspects of working knowledge and skills required
in Industry. Hence, lifelong learning for engineering
graduates is very relevant (i.e. graduates to
continue learning).
Essentially, engineering education is to provide
engineering graduates with the breadth and depth of
fundamentals and principles in STEAM (i.e. Science,
Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics)
studies. These give graduates the necessary tools to
solve complex problems (now and in the future) and
enable them to design and create new technologies
and engineering processes.
However, a four-year period of engineering
education to equip engineering graduates with
substantial volume of STEAM studies is not in itself
sufficient. Students are expected to participate
in extra curricular activities such as sports and
games, and other social and societal events so
that they will have a healthy body and mind with
wholesome characteristics to become respected
professionals in due course.
44 VOL 81 JANUARY-MARCH 2020