Study shows that 2004 graduates are better prepared than those in 1994

摘要

Students who earned undergraduate engineering degrees in 2004 are better prepared to enter their profession than were similar students who finished their degrees in 1994. This is according to a study recently completed by the Penn State Center for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE). The 3 1/2-year study of the impact of new accreditation standards in engineering was commissioned by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). A federation of 30 professional and technical societies, ABET is the accrediting body for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering and technology. According to Lisa R. Lattuca, study director, assistant professor and research associate in the center, "In all nine engineering knowledge and skill areas emphasized by the new standards, the 2004 graduates, in the aggregate, have significantly, and often substantially, higher skill levels than did their counterparts from a decade earlier."