A study on the Types of Students’ Perceptions of Engineering Education Accreditation

Abstract

This study explored university students’ perceptions of engineering education accreditation using Q methodology and targeted 15 engineering students. The PC QUANL program was employed for data analysis. Based on the data analysis, university students’ perceptions of engineering education accreditation were classified into three types. Among a total of 15 subjects, 10 belonged to type 1, three to type 2, and two to type 3. The three types were named “complaint avoidant type”, “value recognition participatory type”, and “supplementation demand type”, respectively, depending on their individual characteristics. The avoidant complaint type were skeptical about engineering education accreditation. This complaint originated from the difficulty in participating in diverse extracurricular programs because of excessive credit hours. The value recognition participatory type recognized the need for engineering education accreditation and was positive about being provided an opportunity to obtain a job and learn. In particular, upper graders found the program more valuable than lower graders. The supplementation demand type found engineering education accreditation valuable and necessary; however, they wanted to quit owing to the heavy workload of credits and expressed dissatisfaction with the supplementation of the program. We expect that these study results will serve as basic data to improve the quality of accreditation programs in future by helping to understand the perception structure of engineering education accreditation.