FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Based on the agreement (7/B/33044 dated 29/6/1425 A.H.) of his majesty Prince Faisel ben Bandar ben Abdulaziz – the prince of Qassim district – concerning the arrangement of an International Conference on Engineering Education. The conference is to be hosted by the College of Engineering at the Qassim University in behave of the Qassim University.  

As of Saturday the 25^th of Safar of 1427 A.H. the conference started its opening session in the main conference room of the university. In his welcoming talk; his majesty; the Prince mentioned that this conference is a big challenge to shed lights on various engineering educational fields and it is a great chance to gather; in Qassim; the specialists in seldom scientific fields. The conference continued its activities as meetings of the deans of engineering colleges belong to the gulf countries, holding engineering exhibits and performing engineering sessions. Afterwards; the following recommendations have been issued.

(1)          Inform the engineering students about the basics of the professional and technical licenses and its necessity in performing professional career. 

(2)          Sharing of expert technicians in lecturing engineering students.

(3)          To assure that specialized engineering faculties in the mathematics courses which are taught to engineering students and have continues improvement of these courses.

(4)          To assure that engineering education curriculums include introduction to engineering design courses. These courses emphasis on developing and improving the student’s skills in communication, active learning, professional ethics and applying a scientific heuristic in solving engineering problems.

(5)          Courses are subjected to updating every five years to match and synchronies the scientific and technological developments.

(6)          Based on its positive outcomes; the cooperation training for all engineering students is to be adopted.

(7)          It is recommended to consult good engineering colleges -in other countries- in conjunction with planning an engineering college curriculum.

(8)          Concentrate the advices and academic directing for the freshmen-engineering students.

(9)          When planning to create new engineering colleges, it is a must to assure that the offered programs match the job-marketing demands. This match is to be based on accurate and official statistics.

(10)     Holding faculty training sessions to introduce the new and advanced techniques in engineering courses.

(11)     Encourage the reaction between the engineering education sectors and other engineering association and engineering sectors.

(12)     To assure the academic quality, a continuous evaluation process for the offered courses and the faculty activities is recommended.

(13)     All engineering colleges have to accept the dynamics of the accelerated change and make it one of its priorities in meeting the developments in the engineering education fields.

(14)     It is recommended to share knowledge in planning engineering courses with all sectors in relation with the outcomes of the engineering education.

(15)     The graduation projects are to be selected with care. It must satisfy the related environment aspects and demonstrate a starting point of a student’s application field.

(16)     Seeking the accreditation from international accreditation associations becomes an assured issue from all engineering colleges.

(17)     Offering a wide chance for high school graduates to enroll in engineering education must be assured. Such chance becomes the main development requirements and society desires.

(18)     Activate the education curriculums to challenge the engineering students for continuous education and skill improvements. This will impact in achieving the job marketing requirements.

(19)     All engineering programs have to satisfy the national and international academic accreditation.

(20)     Bridge the links between the engineering colleges and the job owners concerning recruiting engineering graduates and satisfying job owner requirements about the graduate skills.

(21)     Giving the chance to apply the new techniques in engineering education like the Project Based Learning (PBL) and Problem Based Learning (PBL).

(22)     Great attention must be paid to the education techniques in engineering courses and concentrate on the quality not the quantity.

(23)     Working on establishing accreditation boards for the entire Arabic world. Such boards may concentrate on general and specialized accreditation and the application of the total quality management on the engineering education programs.

(24)     Give the engineering faculties and students the chance to search over and review the courses offered by these international universities and get the most benefits from revisions.

By the end of this session – all the conference audients and participants recommend paying deep appreciation and thanks to his majesty Prince Faisel ben Bandar ben Abdulaziz – the prince of Qassim district – for his kind sponsoring this conference and his fruitful directions. Also appreciations are due to his Excellency the Qassim University Manager for his hosting of the conference.