Quality in engineering education programmes is acquired over a long period. Institutions, depending e.g. on their countries, management style and/or culture, have their own strengths, constraints and priorities. They sometimes depend on their quality enhancement processes or national accreditation systems. With now more than hundred collaborating institutions worldwide, CDIO programme leaders can learn from practice elsewhere, exchange ideas and experiences, review developments, and inspire others.
This contribution describes a particular continuous enhancement implementation of CDIO educational programmes in two distinct institutions, thanks to a European project funded in 2014 for two years. Based on specific self-evaluations including several criteria and a rubric reference model, cross-sparring visits permit both institutions to learn from each other, on specific criteria. Each institution, for a dedicated programme, identifies quality criteria it wants to improve, and quality criteria it may inspire the others. At the heart of the process is a cross-sparring collaborative model, whereby the two institutions are critical friends.
Reykjavik University wanted to learn on the following evaluation criteria: integrated curriculum, sound subject foundation, integrated design projects and different learning styles. Institut Mines Telecom Bretagne wanted to learn on the following evaluation criteria: workspaces and equipment, learner assessment and feedback, communication with students, student progression monitoring.
Based on a return of experience, this paper dress critical examinations of where the self-evaluation and cross-sparring process was beneficial and lacking. Thus, it has potential to stimulate thought and discussion in the domain of collaborative quality enhancement at international levels.
Proceedings of the 12th International CDIO Conference, Turku, Finland, June 12-16 2016