Ingenieur Vol.72 ingenieur October 2017-FA3 | Page 21

changes including the revised accreditation
manual, engineering programmes in Malaysia were
compelled to change their approach to delivering
engineering programmes. The accreditation
criteria put strong emphasis for programmes
to deliver graduates that possess specified
Programme Outcomes (POs) or also known as
the Graduate Attributes, which become the main
criteria for mutual recognition of accredited
educational programmes among the accord
signatories. The most important benchmark
reference is published by the IEA describing
the Graduate Attributes and Professional
Competencies (http://www.ieagreements.org/
assets/Uploads/Documents/Policy/Graduate-
Attributes-and-Professional-Competencies.pdf).
The philosophy of education has been
shifted from input and process-based to
Outcomes-Based Education (OBE). Therefore,
with admittance to the full signatory status of
the WA, the quality of engineering education
system in Malaysia has been acknowledged
by the international engineering community.
Recognition of the Engineering Technology and
Engineering Technician programmes are to follow
suit. This achievement is a direct contribution
to the national interest of Malaysia, where
enhanced education standards will uplift the
Malaysian engineering education system to be
on par with that of many advanced countries in
the world. This will support Malaysia’s aspiration
to become a regional and international hub of
engineering education that can attract foreign
students to pursue their higher education in
the country. In addition, quite a number of
foreign IHLs are setting up branch campuses
in Malaysia with confidence, thus helping this
aspiration. Through WA, SA and DA, Malaysia
will be automatically recognised as a country
that is able to produce global workers of high
quality and world-class.
On the international front, the BEM mentored
Pakistan to full signatory status of the WA in
2017. The BEM has also helped train Sri Lanka’s
accreditation evaluators and academic staff
of Institutions of Higher Learning. Sri Lanka
has been accorded full signatory status of the
WA in 2014. The BEM is currently mentoring
Bangladesh for full signatory status of WA.
Malaysia has also been appointed as a member
of the WA review team for Australia and Turkey in
2015 and 2016, and has been appointed to WA
review of Japan this year.
Impact on the Malaysia Engineering
Education System and Quality
The processes that have to be followed to reach
full signatory status of the WA has helped propel
engineering education in Malaysia to a higher
level. This has led to the engineering education
providers in the country to be more mindful of
the importance of producing graduates with the
qualities that meet the demand and requirements
of industry and all other stakeholders.
This is also very much in line with Malaysia
Education Blueprint for Higher Education, in which
amongst other shifts, focuses on transforming the
higher education system in Malaysia to produce
holistic, entrepreneurial and balanced graduates
(Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 Higher
Education, 2015). Most employers are looking
for employees who possess not only academic
excellence but also the soft skills, especially
communication, ethics, good attitude, team work,
and so on.
Education and Training Differentiation
The WA, SA and DA processes have made the
BEM and IHLs very mindful of the need to clearly
differentiate the various levels of engineering
education and training. Table 1 shows some of the
key accreditation requirements for undergraduate
degrees in Engineering and Engineering
Technology, and Engineering Technician diplomas.
All programmes must provide appropriate
academic curriculum, breadth and depth of
education, delivery and assessments to suit the
types of ‘engineers’ they are producing. The BEM
strictly checks these to ensure IHLs are really
producing the various levels of engineering team
players that fit their purpose. Any programme
that does not abide by the differentiation in terms
of Graduate Attributes and other accreditation
criteria will be rejected in terms of its accreditation,
and hence will render such programme as not fit
to be offered.
19