Graduate Perceptions of the Chemical Engineering Curriculum in the Shu-Teh Junior College in Taiwan

[[abstract]]The aims of technical education focus on learning practical knowledge and on whether or not graduates can be accepted by the industrial society. The curriculum is an important factor in deciding the effectiveness of technical education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the chemical engineering curriculum in the Shu-Teh junior college in Taiwan based on graduate perceptions. A researcher-developed survey instrument was used to collect data from graduates who graduated from the chemical engineering department in the Shu-Teh junior college. Six-point Likert-type scales were used to measure respondents'perceptions toward the general, required, and elective courses comprising a chemical engineering curriculum. This survey also included the perceptions of graduates concerning the future development of chemical engineering (in twenty years). In addition, an open-ended question in the survey assessed the perceptions of graduates concerning changes in the general, required, and elective courses. Descriptive analyses and parametric tests were performed on the data, and the results of this study were tested at the 0.05 level of significance