Work in progress: Improvement and quality plans in engineering programs. Critical Success Factors

ABSTRACT

Engineering education occurs in an environment of change, which has been especially significant faced with this COVID-19 situation. Continuous improvement is reaffirmed as the basis for quality assurance in an engineering program, and requires compliance with various accreditation criteria, as well as recognition of the context of each program. Six Critical Success Factors (CSF) are proposed Stakeholders, Processes, Information, Improvement Actions, Participation and Communication and Institution, for the formulation and monitoring of Improvement Plans (IP) in engineering programs. The CSFs are operationalized in 48 metrics. The research is based on a systematic review of the literature, takes the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle as a reference, and uses the Characteristics Analysis method for the evaluation of the CSF and the metrics. The proposal constitutes a technical, participatory and comprehensive approach to support the decision-making in the IP management. © 2023 IEEE.