Assessing Engineering Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

The future of sub - Saharan Africa will depend to a large extent on the abilities of the sub - Saharan societies to introduce technological change as a permanent ongoing process. Engineering capacity will be a major factor in fostering this ability. Thus, the development of engineering education should command the attention of human resources and education planners. The goal of a development plan for engineering education is to ensure that the required number of engineers of a specific standard are produced in an efficient manner. In the case of sub - Saharan Africa, it is necessary to transform the present engineering education system into a new system that satisfies this development goal. But in order to do that it is first necessary to assess the present system. Assessment of educational systems in general, and of engineering education in particular, is an old and venerable practice in industrialized countries. This volume explores the different meanings of assessment and the possibility of using known assessment methods in sub - Saharan African context. This book provides a practical guide to assess an engineering education institution. It approaches assessment in a comprehensive manner by dealing with the assessment of qualitative and quantitative needs, and assessment of the efficiency of the engineering education institution. It also contains questionnaires, and methodologies for analyzing costs.