ENSURING PROGRAMME RELEVANCE IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING MAINTENANCE

Education and training will increasingly become the main vehicle for self-awareness, belonging, advancement, and self-fulfilment among member states of the European Union. Education and training whether acquired in the formal education system or on the job, or in a more informal way, is the key for everyone to controlling their future and their personal development and knowledge base. The provision of technically-relevant, Industry-informed syllabi is the ongoing challenge for all 3rd level engineering and technology programme teams. The School of Manufacturing & Design Engineering offers a full-time and part-time NQAI Level 7 Bachelor of Engineering Technology (BEngTech) titled Engineering Systems Maintenance which allows graduates to work in a mechanical / manufacturing / electrical engineering maintenance environment in high-tech multi-national companies as well as traditional indigenous industries and public utilities. Graduates of the programme will have acquired the requisite knowledge and skills to operate effectively in an environment where diagnostic and applied engineering skills will be valued and rewarded. Ensuring that syllabi are current and relevant to industry is an on-going task for programme management. To achieve this, a survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to 40 senior industrial engineering maintenance practitioners. The survey was analysed and its findings used to inform and update the programme curriculum. This paper outlines methodology, execution and analysis of the survey questionnaire and its application to updating and refreshing industrial maintenance engineering educational programmes in a third-level institution.