What Should We Teach? : A Study of Stakeholders’ Preceptions on Curriculum Content

The Bachelor of Engineering is a complex form of education; it has to meet the requirements of higher education in terms of academic stringency and scientific approaches, and at the same time fulfil the requirements of the companies and other takers on employability and professionalism. The aim of the CDIO initiative is to help educational institutions to fulfil the latter without losing the academic basis. Several studies have been made asking different actors to give their view on education and needed competencies, but these are often delimited to one or a couple of actors. One possible reason is the complexity of conducting such studies. This paper reports on a survey including program students, alumni and industry representatives and covers their perceptions of what is important to include in a Bachelor of Engineering program, and what is not. The methodological issues and choices as well as the main results are accounted for. The program in focus is a three-year Bachelor of Engineering in Forest and Wood Engineering taught at Linnaeus University, and the questions regarding content were based on the CDIO syllabus. Results show that there are some contents all three groups of actors regard as important; all found knowledge in forestry, material sciences and technology related to wood industry as important. Also, analytic and communication skills, and the ability to work in groups were seen as important. Understanding social and environmental conditions and enterprise and business terms was also necessary. Least important was the ability to communicate in foreign languages and knowledge regarding construction technology and deepened knowledge of forestry