CRITERION 2. PROGRAM EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

ABET Self-Study Report Industrial Engineering Program

CRITERION 2. PROGRAM EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

A. Mission Statement

Provide the institutional mission statement

This section provides information about Program Educational Objectives (PEOs) and the

processes pertaining to how they are developed, revised and evaluated, aiming at continuous

improvement of the IE Program. It also describes the 'mission statements' set by the University,

the Faculty, the Department and the Program. Whether or not these missions are consistent is

analyzed. PEOs are stated and, finally, evidences are presented to show how effective are the

processes related to these PEOs.

As defined by ABET, PEOs are broad statements that describe the career and professional

accomplishments that the program is preparing graduates to achieve. ABET's definitions of the

terms 'assessment', and ‘evaluation’ have also been accepted by the IE Program.

1. Consistency with the Faculty and Institutional Mission Statements

a. Institutional Mission Statement

The mission of the King Abdulaziz University (KAU) is ‘the advancement of society

through pioneering research, and encouraging academic and scientific excellence’. It is

published at Department of Industrial Engineering website as well as in King Abdul-Aziz

University Catalogue (2006-2007) on page 17.

b. Faculty of Engineering Mission Statement

The mission of the Faculty of Engineering is ‘to prepare distinguished engineers and to

pioneer in conducting research and studies and in transferring knowledge and technology,

all for ultimately serving and developing the society.’ It is published at Department of

Industrial Engineering website as well as in KAU Faculty of Engineering Bulletin 2008

on page 3.

c. Department of Industrial Engineering Mission Statement

The mission of the Department of Industrial Engineering is ‘to prepare Industrial

Engineering graduates equipped with the world-class professional competencies capable

of conducting scientific research and rendering community services allowing for a

sustainable development.’ It is published at Department of Industrial Engineering

website.

d. Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Program Mission Statement

The mission of the undergraduate Industrial Engineering Program is ‘to prepare

graduating industrial engineers equipped with the world-class professional competencies

http://ie.kau.edu.sa/content.aspx?Site_ID=135006&lng=EN&cid=48923






capable of rendering community services allowing for a sustainable development.’ It is

published at Department of Industrial Engineering website.

B. Industrial Engineering Program Educational Objectives

List the program educational objectives and state where these can be found by the

general public.

Department of Industrial Engineering prepares graduates having ability to design, develop,

implement and improve integrated systems comprising of people, equipment, materials, energy

and information for serving the community at the local and global levels. These graduates should

1. Be effective in applying contemporary tools of industrial engineering to cater to the needs

of upcoming challenges of the changing industrial world.

2. Exhibit professionalism and effective oral and written communication skills.

3. Function effectively in diverse teams to handle problems pertaining to different industrial

and managerial settings.

4. Demonstrate professional and ethical responsibilities towards their profession, society,

and the environment.

5. Apply effectively e-media, computers and software in solving engineering problems.

These are published at Department of Industrial Engineering website.

Faculty of Engineering is preparing its graduates to achieve the following career and professional

accomplishments which are implicitly included in the educational objectives of different

Engineering Programs in order to support the mission of the faculty as well as the mission of the

university:

1. To perform professionally: exhibit integrity, behave ethically, accept responsibility,

take initiative, and provide leadership.

2. To demonstrate technical competence: think creatively, search broadly and use state of

the art engineering tools to identify and formulate safe innovative approaches.

3. To work efficiently: act as an effective team member and use formal and informal

communication skills as well as project management techniques to ensure timely and

within-budget completion of work projects.

4. To keep commitment: remain business focused, quality oriented, and committed to

personal professional development as well as the sustainable development of the society.

C. Consistency of the Program Educational Objectives with the Mission

of the Institution

Describe how the program educational objectives are consistent with the mission of the

institution.




The Department of Industrial Engineering has set its program-mission that is quite consistent with

the Faculty mission and its targets of accomplishments stated as above. The Faculty mission, in

turn, is consistent with that of the University.

In fact, the IE Department is highly committed to achieve its goals by providing a high quality

program to its graduating engineers. In this context, the set Program Educational Objectives are

long-term objectives that the IE Program prepares its graduates to achieve. The first objective

assures that our graduates have strong fundamental knowledge required to succeed as practicing

engineers. Accomplishment of objectives 2 & 3 results in our graduates advancing their careers

by proving their ability to work in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teams in order to

identify, formulate, analyze, and solve engineering problems encountered in different kinds of

industrial and managerial settings. Achievement of objective 4 is demonstrated by way of our

graduates exhibiting professional and ethical responsibilities towards their professional societal

and environmental contexts. The last objective prepares our graduates to be successful engineers

by way of showing their talents and expertise in employing modern tools involving e-media and

computer-based applications. As stated earlier, these educational objectives are consistent with

the institutional vision, mission and goals. The Program Educational Objectives of the IE

Department are essentially the same as those of the Faculty of Engineering as stated below:

The IE PEOs were developed, revised and refined to meet the needs of various constituencies of

the IE Program. These PEOs are comprehensive (addressing both depth in the discipline of IE as

well as the breadth in terms of the skills and attributes of IE needed to be good practitioners),

defined and documented (The IE objectives are rewritten by ABET committee of the IE

Department and are to be discussed and approved by the IE Department Council. The IE

objectives are measurable, using data from employers and alumni as well as from the Industrial

Advisory Board, IABIE (documented earlier) and other relevant sources. The objectives are

flexible in the sense that they are befitting to the different career choices available to the IE

graduates), clearly tied to mission (as documented above, the IE Program objectives are tied to

the University (KAU) and Faculty/College missions/goals and are based on the IE Program

mission), readily adaptable to meet constituent needs (The IE program objectives are stated

broadly to encompass the basic skills/ attributes so as to cater to the needs of the constituents,

thereby leading to successful career of the graduating engineers), and systematically reviewed

and updated (the IE program objectives were revised in 2007 on the basis of the set procedures,

well documented and revisited in 2012.

D. Program Constituencies

List the program constituencies. Describe how the program educational objectives meet

the needs of these constituencies.

As a result of the deliberations of the IE Department’s ABET Committee, and the

subsequent discussions, recommendations, and approval of the IE Department’s Council, the

following four principal constituencies were determined.

1. Employers : organizations where our graduates are working.

2. Alumni : the graduates of the IE Department, KAU, Jeddah.


3. Students: both the current students as well as those just going to the point

of exit from the IE program.

4. Faculty : the instructors involved in teaching in the IE Department.

Salient features of these constituents are as follows:

1. Employers

Ultimate end-users of the IE Program are the employers of the IE graduates and their feedback

would have an immense impact on the overall success of the Program. Primarily, inputs from the

potential employers of IE graduates are received through these employers, the Faculty of

Engineering Industrial Advisory Board (FE-IAB), the IE Department Industrial Advisory Board

(IABIE), and the Summer Training advisors.

2. Faculty of Engineering Industrial Advisory Board (FE-IAB)

The FE-IAB comprises of industry people occupying different senior positions in their

organizations. Thus the FE-IAB members primarily represent one of the most important

constituencies: the employers. The Board meets at least once in a year and discusses the

employers’ perception of the quality of our graduates, the current industry needs, the

technological trends, and provides valuable inputs to develop and improve the engineering

programs. The composition of the FE-IAB is portrayed in Table 1, given below:


Table 1: List of the Members of the Industrial Advisory Board of FE-IAB

S

N

O

.

NAMES OF THE

MEMBERS POSITION

ORGANIZATION/

COMPANY

1 Eng. R. Salama Deputy President & Systems Manager Siemens, Saudi Arabia

2 Eng. A. Turkestani Quality Consultant Nobalaa Training Center

3 Eng. S. Shawli Secretary General of the Ministry of Petroleum &

Mineral Resources

Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources

4 Dr. A. Al-Shawri Head of Saudi Nat. Quality Council Saudi Arabian Airlines

5 Eng. A. Zamel Member of Board of Directors Zamel Industries Company

6 Eng. A. Al-

Saadoon

President of Acetyl Company Saudi International Petrochemicals Company

7 Eng. A. Al-Saadi Vice Executive President Consultancy Office of Zohair Al-Faiz & Co.

8 Dr. S. Bamagbour Director of Medical Physics & Bio Engineering Armed forces Hospital, Riyadh

9 Eng. A. Badood Director of Aircraft Engineering Saudi Arabian Airlines

1

0

Eng. G. Raeki General Manager of Internet Systems Saudi Telecom

1

1

Eng. B. Merfaq Chief Engineer of Communication Syst. Saudi Arabian Airlines

1

2

Dr. T. Adham CEO Talal Adham & Co

1

3

Dr. G. Sabbagh General Manager Makkah, Medina, and Mashaaer Development National

Organisation

1

4

Dr. M. Dabbagh Vice President for Precious Minerals Saudi Arabian Mining Company


3. Industrial Advisory Board of the IE Department (IABIE)

The Department has a formal Industrial Advisory Board of the IE Department (IABIE),

composed primarily of leaders from industry. Details of the esteemed members of the

Board are documented in the IABIE binder maintained by the Department. The IABIE

communicates to us about the expectations that industry has from our students, and their

opinions of how well our program is preparing students who meet these expectations.

Table 2 List of the Members of the Industrial Advisory Board of the IE

S. NO. NAMES OF THE MEMBERS COMPANY/ORGANIZATION

1. Dr Mohammad Reda Kabli

(Head, IABIE)

Department of Industrial Engineering, KAU, Jeddah.

2. Dr Ayan Hashi

Coordinator, IABIE)

Department of Industrial Engineering, KAU, Jeddah,

3. Engineer Azhar Kenji Savola Company

4. Engineer Firas AL Turki National Commeral Bank.

5. Engineer Sand AL Suliman IKEA

6. Engineer Mazin Badawood Savola (Sugar Company)

7.

4. Alumni

We use Alumni-Survey to study our alumni’s feelings after they have spent time in the

professional world, especially after a period of 2-5 years of their graduation. Their feedback

serves a lot in taking steps to improve the program in a multifaceted direction.

5. Current & Graduating Students

Our primary responsibility as part of the University is education and our most important

constituents are our students, the current ones as well as alumni. The IE department has been

conducting a non-web survey of current and graduating seniors since spring 2006, although exit

feedback was solicited more sporadically before this. This instrument seeks to assess how

students view the department's program in retrospect.

6. Faculty

The faculty (instructors of the IE Department), on the other hand, makes the backbone of the

entire system of education and training and their performance as well as their opinions influence

the program a great deal. Being the core designers of the program, their continual participation,

monitoring, feedback and corrective actions, taken constitute the whole cycle of the program

control.


All of these constituencies are surveyed on a regular and continual basis for getting their opinions

and feedback in order to have a continuous improvement in the IE Program .In this context; the

inputs provided by the Industrial Advisory Board of the IE Department (IABIE) also play a key

role. Based on their precious opinions, the Program Educational Objectives are to be reviewed, as

is demonstrated through following Table 3 below:

Table 3: Summary of Constituent inputs to PEOs

INPUT SOURCES SCHEDULE CONSTITUENCIES

Employers' opinions Annually Employers

Alumni- survey Annually Alumni

ABET Committee

Program Committee

Departmental Council

Frequently

(as and when needed)

Faculty members of

the IE Department

Industrial Advisory

Board of the IE Department (IABIE)

&

Industrial Advisory

Board of the Faculty of Engineering

Each Semester

Annual

Employers

& Alumni

E. Process for Revision of the Program Educational Objectives

Describe the process that periodically reviews and revises, as necessary, the program

educational objectives including how the program’s various constituencies are involved

in this process. Include the results of this process and provide a description of any

changes that were made to the program educational objectives and the timeline

associated with those changes since the last general review.

This section describes the processes used to establish and review the Program Educational

Objectives and the extent to which the various constituencies of the program are involved in these

processes. Guided by the institution / faculty mission statements, the departmental goals and

objectives, and by opinions from different constituencies (Employers, Alumni, Industrial

Advisory Board, and Faculty) the IE PEOs are established. The whole task is undertaken and

managed by the ABET Committee of the IE Department, to be subsequently considered by the

Department’s Council for its final approval.


In order to review these objectives, specific questionnaires are distributed to the adopted

constituencies, and feedback is received and evaluated .In addition, the inputs are also obtained

from the Industrial Advisory Board of the IE Department (IABIE) and the AAU. In light of these

inputs and analysis of the surveyed data, recommendations for modifications in the Program

Educational Objectives, if any, are made by the ABET committee of the IE Department and these

are subsequently discussed in the Council meeting of the Department for final revision and

approval. These objectives are to be reviewed and updated on regular basis at an interval of every

2 years, thereby providing two evaluations per accreditation cycle. Details of the said scheme are

portrayed in Figure 2.1, whereas an overview of inputs to establish and review the educational

objectives is presented in Figure 2.2. According to this scheme, Program Educational Objectives

were developed and adopted in 2005. These objectives were as follows:

1. To be well versed in contemporary tools of industrial engineering and its applications.

2. To be able to identify, formulate, analyze and solve engineering problems encountered in

managerial and general industrial and non-industrial settings.

3. To be able to function effectively in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teams.

4. To be able to communicate effectively in written and oral media.

5. To be able to use effectively e media, computers and software packages in solving

engineering problems.

6. To be able to understand professional and ethical responsibilities towards the

environmental contexts.

7. To be able to be engaged in life long process of learning, and be aware of the global

contemporary issues.

Different constituencies were surveyed, and the data collected were analyzed and final results

were obtained. In light of the inputs obtained from various constituents and other sources, these

objectives were modified in the year 2007 and have been reduced from 7 (stated as above) to 5 in

number as presented earlier. These have been revisited in 2012 and modified revision is already

presented on page 4 of this document.

1. Documented Process for Evaluating the Achievement of Objectives (PEOs)

The assessment and evaluation process that periodically documents and demonstrates the degree

to which the program educational objectives are attained is undertaken on the basis of a two-year

cycle, as per recommendations of the Faculty of Engineering AAU (vide vol 1, Issue 4, Sept

2006). This assessment is done according to the scheme presented in Figure 2.1. In light of the

fact that PEOs are achievable over a longer period of time, the cycle under reference was chosen

by the IE Department to be spanning over a period of around 2 years as per proposal of AAU. It

may be noted that the same process that led to the establishment of the Program Educational

Objectives discussed earlier also provided the framework for the development and restructuring

of the undergraduate curricula. Through the surveying of one of the most important constituency

i.e. the employers, it was found that industry was in need of the following skills/attributes and

knowledge-contents:


Self-learning/problem solving methods/job commitments/management needs/team integration/

communication/flexibility/English language/design-skill/networks/University-industry dialogue/

dedication/hard work/logic analysis/software knowledge industrial exposure/ leadership/

computer-skill/ specialized application software/project management/negotiation-skill/technical

standards/safety and security/engineering graphics/general administration/report writing/ safety

maintenance/shouldering responsibility etc.

These observations of the employers are documented in the program’s constituency binder. In

light of these inputs and other expert opinions of the Industrial Advisory Board (IABIE), IE

alumni and esteemed faculty members of the IE Department the Program Committee of the

Department in its tens of meetings revised the curricula both in terms of the contents as well as

the presentation of all the syllabi of the courses offered by the IE program. This exercise was

undertaken so that the set PEOs become achievable for our graduates in due course of time. This

curricula revision led to the completion of one complete cycle of ABET’s activities. As regards to

restructuring the course plan, steps are being taken at the faculty level and in light of its finalized

scheme, the details would be worked out for the Department also. Realizing the fact that the

curricula of a program provide the primary means by which the program educational objectives

can be achieved, intense efforts were made to review the contents of all the courses. This has led

to significant improvement in the IE courses. The revised curricula have already been discussed

in the IE Department Council meetings and subsequently have also been approved. With these

undergraduate Curricula, the IE Program, with its already identified ‘a to k plus l & m’ program

outcomes that the IE graduates must achieve to be considered successful. It is hoped that the IE

Program Educational objectives would be achievable. The competency of the graduates, as

demonstrated by outcome assessment, contributes to achieving the program objectives. Details

pertaining to the process of identifying outcomes and their assessment etc. are presented

elsewhere in this document.

In the context of assessment and evaluation of the Program Educational Objectives, plans were

chalked out pertaining to each objective, in terms of statement of the objectives, how is it to be

measured?, when is it to be measured?, improvements identified, and, improvements

implemented as presented in the Table 3. Procedure for periodically assessing the extent to which

each of the above objectives are being met by the program is very well designed and followed by

the IE Department. The details provided include specification of the frequency and timing of

assessments, types of data collected, methodology of data collection, sources of data, the

surveying instruments, data summarizing, analysis of data and how the results of assessments are

to be used and by whom.


Figure 2.1 Processes of Periodic Modification and Evaluation of the PEOs For IE Department.

(The corresponding in ‘time-frame is presented in Table 3.)

Department

Goals and

Objectives

Metrics

Program and

Course Design

Employers

Alumni

Students

Faculty

College

Mission

Implementatio

n of Plans

Program

Employers

Alumni

Students

Faculty

Evaluation

Record

Preparation of assessment

Plans

Constituencies Representative

Committee For periodic

Evaluation

Establish “n” no. of

Groups for “n” no. of

objectives

Collect data through feedback

forms from constituencies

College AAU

Reports


Figure 2.2 An Overview of the Processes of Periodic Modification of the PEOs.

(The corresponding in ‘time-frame is presented in Table 3.)

IE Faculty

Institution/College

/IE Department

First DRAFT of

the Objectives

/ Revised

Versions

IE Department

Council

IE PROGRAM

EDUCATIONA

L OBJECTIVES

College

AAU

IE CONSTITUENCIES

(Employers,

Alumni, Faculty, Students)

IE DEPARTMENT

PROGRAM

COMMITTEE

ABET

Committee


Table 4: Details about the assessment and evaluation of the PEOs

Program

Educational

Objectives

(PEO)

How Measured?

When Measured?

PEO-1

(Stated as

above: p.21)

(1) Student performance in associated courses

(measured through the outcome-CLO and

PEO – PO mappings).

(2)Faculty survey

(3) Industrial advisory board/alumni feedback

(1) Per semester

(2) Regular discussions

(3)Annually

PEO-2

(Stated as

above: p.21)


(2) faculty analysis of student interactions

(3)IABIE /Alumni feedback

(1) Per semester

(2) Annually

PEO-3

(Stated as

above: p.21)



(1) Per semester

(2), Annually

PEO-4

(Stated as

above: p.21)



(1) Per semester

(2) Annually

PEO-5

(Stated as

above: p.21)

(1) Student performance in courses.


(1) Per semester

(2) Annually

We employ the following formal assessment procedures:

1. • Employers & Alumni surveys

2. • Industrial advisory board/alumni feedback

3. • Industrial visits/interviews

Some of the above-cited sources of data have already been described whereas others are

explained as follows:

1. Industrial Visits/Interviews

Beyond the IABIE, our Department maintains an extensive set of less formal contacts with area

and national industry. The Faculty of Engineering provides an effective mechanism for joint

research projects between faculty and local industry that helps keep us connected with the needs

and expectations of local industry. Another key ingredient comes from the industrial training


component of the program and the feedback obtained through this media is fully utilized for the

assessment of the program.

The results of the program’s assessments are used to identify program improvements and

modifications to objectives as per following details:

• The educational objectives are subjected to the continuous cycles of periodic evaluation

and modification. The inputs for modifications come from all the constituencies of the program,

as stated earlier. The curriculum is the primary means by which the program educational

objectives can be achieved. The ABET committee of the Industrial Engineering Department, with

its Council’s approval has identified thirteen program outcomes (‘a’ to ‘k’ of ABET plus ‘l’ and

‘m’ of the IE Department) that the IE graduates must achieve to be considered successful. The

competency of the graduates, as demonstrated by outcome assessment, contributes to achieving

the program objectives. The process of identifying outcomes and their assessment is detailed

elsewhere in the present document.

• Although the program objectives are reviewed every two years by the IE Department’s

ABET Committee, the degree to which our graduates have achieved the objectives is assessed

each year by an alumni survey and an employer survey. The latest survey occurred in the year

2006 when questionnaires were sent to alumni and employers. They were asked to rate, on a pre-

specified scale, how well the IE graduates achieved the program objectives. The following results

are based on 30 alumni-returns and 25 employer-returns.

Table 5: Results of Evaluation of Achievement Program Educational Objectives

Constituency

PEO-1:

Contemp

tools

PEO-2

:Solving

Eng.

prob

PEO-3

: team

work

PEO-4 :

Communic-

ation

PEO-5 :

Use of e-

media,comp

PEO-6 :

Professional

ethical, env.

PEO-7:

Life

long

learning

Employers 6.3 4.9 7.4 5.0 7.7 5.9 6.3

Alumni 7.0 7.3 7.3 8.5 8.9 7.8 8.1

In light of the Alumni data, with the rating consistently above 6.0, they suggest that our alumni

believe that our program is meeting its objectives. However, the same is not true in light of the

employer-data, where it holds only for the PEO numbers 1, 3, 5, and 7. For the remaining PEOs

(2, 4, & 6), the level of achievement has been of the order of around 50% for PEOs 2 & 4 , and

around 60% for the PEO 6. Accordingly, some corrective actions were demanded by the program.

As regards the program Outcomes, although all outcomes support the Program Educational

Objectives, some objectives are strongly related to some of the outcomes. Each outcome is

consistently assessed by using several assessment tools and with active participation of all the

faculty members of the IE Department, as illustrated elsewhere in the present document.


It is to be noted that the above-presented analysis involved the pre-revised Educational Objectives

and this led to the completion of the first cycle as stated earlier. Different constituencies’ surveys,

for the next cycle of assessment, have already been initiated and data so collected would be

utilized in the next phase of the program improvement.

CRITERION 2. PROGRAM EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

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