2019 FYEE Conference

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