PROMOTING CURRICULUM AGILITY THROUGH PROJECT-BASED LEARNING: CASE OF THE AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY (KUWAIT)

Curriculum agility has recently drawn the attention of the engineering education sector as it addresses the challenging dynamic nature of engineering markets. Project-based learning (PBL) is foreseen as a successful pedagogy that adds flexibility to engineering curricula and equips graduates with long-life learning skills. The level of flexibility that PBL adds depends on many factors and one of them is the way it is practiced. In this paper, the flexibility added by the currently applied PBL model at the College of Engineering at the Australian University in Kuwait as well as a newly proposed PBL model is assessed from the perspective of experienced PBL facilitators through quantitative and qualitative survey methods. After introducing the two models and the expected enhancements added by the new model on the implementation of CDIO standards, the survey results are presented and thoroughly discussed. The results show that the new PBL model is expected to enhance the flexibility of engineering curricula but also bring to the fore the resilience to change of PBL facilitators and consequently the importance of explanatory and discussion workshops before and during the implementation of new PBL model.