The application of the previously used CDIO benchmarking process to the core, option and elective programs in Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Queen’s University in Canada is discussed. The results have been used to assess how well the Queen’s University curricula perform in the various CDIO syllabus areas. The results have also been compared with the results obtained in an alumni survey.
The benchmarking of the curriculum was based on the use of a course-by-course assessment carried out with the instructor in each course in the program using the Introduce (I), Teach (T) or Utilize (U) procedure applied to the various CDIO topic areas to generate an ITU Index value for each of these topic areas.
It was found that Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Queen’s meets or excels in all categories of the CDIO syllabus that were benchmarked with the exception of the following areas: 4.2 Enterprise and Business Context, 4.6 Operating, 2.3 System Thinking, 2.5 Professional Skills and Attitudes, and 4.1 External and Societal Context. However, the extent of these shortcomings varied between streams and options.