2019 FYEE Conference

Undergraduate Academic Policy Trends Across Institutions Over the Last Thirty Years

Presented at T1C: Developing Foundations in Mathematics

This study sought to compare engineering undergraduate academic policies across universities in order to identify existing trends in the past 30 years. We conducted content analysis on institution catalogues using Nvivo and investigated the core courses required in engineering curricula, we also investigated the different probation policies and compared them across different institutions. We hypothesized that as time has progressed, colleges have better refined and specified their policies and catalogs, generally in such a way that has led to higher academic standards. We also expected to see an increase in the required math and science courses as the years went on. However, when we examined the data, there were more complex relationships than we had originally predicted. In conclusion, across multiple years, there is not much of a difference, but across colleges, more definitive trends can be observed. We used visualization methods to illustrate the differences among institutions and throughout the last thirty years.

KEY WORDS: Academic Policy, Undergraduate, Higher Education Policy, Academic Literacy, Engineering

Authors

Mr. Hossein Ebrahiminejad Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering) [biography]

Hossein Ebrahiminejad is a Ph.D. student in Engineering Education at Purdue University. He completed his M.S. in Biomedical Engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in Iran. His research interests include student pathways, educational policy, and quantitative research methods.
Mr. Hassan Ali Al Yagoub http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8812-4109 Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)
Dr. Catherine E. Brawner Research Triangle Educational Consultants
Wil Stuckey Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)
Tom Cody Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)
Mr. Nicholas Tomlin http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6502-989X Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)
Nate Eckhart Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)
Hamza Tanzeem Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)
Dan Irby Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)
Anna Francis Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)

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