A Structured Approach For Identifying Appropriate Programs For A Planned Engineering College At Prince Sultan University
2. Identifying Suitable Specializations/Programs
The formed committee adopted a systematic scientific approach for identifying the most suitable programs to offer at the College of Engineering at PSU. The procedure and results of this approach is presented in the following sub-sections.
2.1. Surveying Existing Programs
The committee conducted an extensive survey of the existing undergraduate engineering programs. The survey reviewed traditional and contemporary programs that might be suitable to offer at PSU. The survey also provided review for the engineering programs being offered in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East for both male and female students.
The survey covered 57 different engineering programs in following four areas:
1) Architecture Related Programs
2) Technology Related Engineering Programs 3) Management Related Engineering Programs 4) General (Traditional) Engineering Programs The survey covered 172 universities worldwide including:
• Saudi Arabia: (29 universities)
• Gulf Countries: (30 universities)
• Middle East: (49 universities)
• Far East: (9 universities):
• United Kingdom: (10 universities)
• Canada: (9 universities)
• United States: (36 universities) Details of each are presented as follows:
• Saudi Arabia: (29 Universities) o Public Universities (15)
o Private Universities and Colleges (14)
• The Gulf Countries (30 Universities) o UAE (13 Universities) o Oman (5 Universities) o Qatar (2 Universities) o Kuwait (4 Universities) o Bahrain (6 Universities)
• The Middle East: (49 Universities) o Jordan (17 Universities) o Lebanon (9 Universities) o Syria (10 Universities) o Egypt (13 Universities)
• The Far East (9 Universities): Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia
• Europe: UK (10 Universities)
• Canada: 9 Universities
• United States: 36 Universities
Tables 1 and 2 below summarize the frequencies of the surveyed programs by region.
Table 1: Frequency of the surveyed programs by region.
US UK Canada Asia Middle East Gulf KSA - Male KSA - Female All
No Program 36 10 9 9 30 49 29 29 172
Architecture
1 Architectural Engineering 8 3 0 1 9 12 5 0 8
2 Architecture 8 3 4 6 6 24 7 3 8
3 Urban Design & Planning 6 1 0 2 1 8 4 0 6
4 Landscape Architecture 7 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 7
5 Interior Design/Architecture 4 1 0 0 10 11 2 5 4
6 Graphic/Digital Design 8 1 0 2 1 15 1 2 8
7 Multimedia Design 5 2 0 3 2 9 0 0 5
8 Product/Industrial Design 13 5 0 6 1 7 0 0 13
9 Visual Communication 1 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 1
10 Art and Design 25 2 3 4 0 15 0 0 25
11 Project and Facilities Management 8 2 0 1 4 2 0 0 8
12 Building & Construction Sciences 2 2 0 1 0 4 1 0 2
Technology
1 Electrical Engineering 31 5 9 7 9 30 18 2 31
2 Electronics Engineering 27 2 1 5 1 13 0 0 27
3 Computer Engineering 26 7 5 4 19 37 12 5 26
4 Communication Engineering 2 1 1 0 2 28 2 0 2
5 Mechatronics 7 0 0 1 4 10 0 0 7
6 Biomedical Engineering 18 4 3 6 3 13 1 0 18
Management
1 Management Science & Engineering 15 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 15 2 Engineering & Technology Management 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 3 Industrial Engineering & Management 16 0 0 3 8 10 2 0 16
4 Energy Engineering & Management 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
5 Natural Resources Engineering Management 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Environmental Engineering Management 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 Construction Engineering & Management 1 3 2 0 2 1 2 0 1
8 Systems Engineering & Management 4 2 0 2 2 0 1 0 4
The survey of the Architecture related programs revealed the following:
A) Programs worldwide - Most common Architecture related Engineering programs
• Architecture
• Art and Design
• Architectural Engineering
• Product/Industrial Design
• Graphic/Multimedia Design
B) KSA - it has limited number of Architecture related programs, and as much less than the international and regional averages. The offered programs in KSA are:
• Architecture Engineering: five programs in public universities for males only.
• Architecture: ten programs (seven for males and three for females). Architecture female programs are offered in private universities.
• Urban Planning/Design: four programs in public universities for males only.
• Landscape Architecture: one program for males only.
• Interior Design/Architecture: seven programs (two for males and five for females).
• Graphic Design: three program in private universities (one for males and two for females) Table 2: Percentage of the surveyed programs by region.
US UK Canada Asia Middle East Gulf KSA - Male KSA - Female All
No Program 36 10 9 9 30 49 29 29 172
Architecture
1 Architectural Engineering 22% 30% 0% 11% 30% 24% 17% 0% 22%
2 Architecture 22% 30% 44% 67% 20% 49% 24% 10% 35%
3 Urban Design & Planning 17% 10% 0% 22% 3% 16% 14% 0% 13%
4 Landscape Architecture 19% 0% 11% 11% 7% 0% 3% 0% 7%
5 Interior Design/Architecture 11% 10% 0% 0% 33% 22% 7% 17% 19%
6 Graphic/Digital Design 22% 10% 0% 22% 3% 31% 3% 7% 17%
7 Multimedia Design 14% 20% 0% 33% 7% 18% 0% 0% 12%
8 Product/Industrial Design 36% 50% 0% 67% 3% 14% 0% 0% 19%
9 Visual Communication 3% 10% 0% 11% 7% 0% 0% 0% 3%
10 Art and Design 69% 20% 33% 44% 0% 31% 0% 0% 28%
11 Project and Facilities Management 22% 20% 0% 11% 13% 4% 0% 0% 10%
12 Building & Construction Sciences 6% 20% 0% 11% 0% 8% 3% 0% 6%
Technology
1 Electrical Engineering 86% 50% 100% 78% 30% 61% 62% 7% 65%
2 Electronics Engineering 75% 20% 11% 56% 3% 27% 0% 0% 28%
3 Computer Engineering 72% 70% 56% 44% 63% 76% 41% 17% 67%
4 Communication Engineering 6% 10% 11% 0% 7% 57% 7% 0% 21%
5 Mechatronics 19% 0% 0% 11% 13% 20% 0% 0% 13%
6 Biomedical Engineering 50% 40% 33% 67% 10% 27% 3% 0% 28%
Management
1 Management Science & Engineering 42% 30% 22% 22% 0% 0% 0% 0% 13%
2 Engineering & Technology Management 8% 0% 0% 0% 7% 0% 0% 0% 3%
3 Industrial Engineering & Management 44% 0% 0% 33% 27% 20% 7% 0% 23%
4 Energy Engineering & Management 3% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1%
5 Natural Resources Engineering Management 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
6 Environmental Engineering Management 0% 0% 22% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1%
7 Construction Engineering & Management 3% 30% 22% 0% 7% 2% 7% 0% 6%
8 Systems Engineering & Management 11% 20% 0% 22% 7% 0% 3% 0% 6%
The survey of the Technology related programs revealed the following:
A) Most international and regional universities offer Electrical and Computer Engineering programs.
B) Saudi universities offer adequate number of Electrical and Computer Engineering programs. However, Electronics and Communication Engineering are mostly offered as majors in Electrical Engineering Departments.
C) Biomedical Engineering is becoming a common program worldwide, yet it is not offered in the Kingdom.
This conclusion also applies to Electronics Engineering. However, these two programs are interrelated.
D) There is a shortage of offered Mechatronics programs in the Kingdom. However, this program is highly dependent on Mechanical and Electronics Engineering.
E) Statistics of surveyed Communication Engineering may be misleading because it is taught at many universities within Computer Engineering majors.
F) Despite this, the number of offered Communication Engineering in the Kingdom is limited in consideration with the current and expected future growth in the communication industries.
The survey of the Management related engineering programs revealed the following:
A) The highest concentration of management related engineering programs are offered in U.S. universities.
B) Only 23 US universities offer undergraduate Engineering Management program. Most US universities offer such programs at the graduate level.
C) Most common Management related Engineering Programs include:
• Industrial Engineering and Management,
• Management Science and Engineering, and
• Construction Engineering and Management.
D) In K.S.A., the most common Management related Engineering Programs include:
• Industrial Engineering and Management, and
• Construction Engineering and Management.
The committee suggested offering Engineering Management, Engineering and Technology Management, or Management Science and Engineering. Other programs like Energy Engineering and Management, Natural Resources Engineering and Management, and Water Resources Engineering and Management require more resources and are rarely offered elsewhere.
2.2. Identifying Candidate Programs
Based on the study survey and analysis of the relative frequency of the offered programs in the Saudi Arabia to those of the region and worldwide, the committee identified 15 programs that can be promising for fulfilling the needs of Prince Sultan University. A list of 57 programs was complied to include all potential engineering programs. The elimination process was carried out by asking each committee member to select a total of 15 programs that he/she considers as viable or promising. To dilute bias towards programs in one's discipline, each committee member was instructed to select five programs in his/her discipline and 10 programs from other disciplines. Table 3 is a list for the 15 selected programs with slight modifications to eliminate repetition and to group programs that were usually offered as majors within other programs.
Table 3: The 15 selected programs 1 Computer Engineering
Computer, Embedded Systems Engineering, Data Communication Engineering 2 Electronic Engineering
3 Telecommunications Engineering