ALIGNING INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION WITH INDUSTRY THROUGH ATOMIC CURRICULUM MANIPULATION

• Piwai Chikasha Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of South Africa, South Africa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3897-501X
• Kemlall Ramsaroop Ramdass Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of South Africa, South Africa https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5480-3368
• Kgabo Mokgokloa Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of South Africa, South Africa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3087-1582
• R W Maladzhi Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of South Africa, South Africa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3773-8538

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7166/31-4-2393

Keywords:

industrial engineering, curriculum, competence, industry alignment

Abstract

Curriculum is the primary factor that defines the competence and skill level of graduate industrial engineers as these professionals leave university and enter a dynamic industry that is affected by multiple social, economic, environmental, and political issues. If the curriculum is not adaptive, the quality of their education is compromised. This work proposes a rigid-skeleton flexible-body approach in which the architecture of the industrial engineering curriculum is rigid but has the flexibility, at a holistic level, to manipulate micro-components according to the needs of the industry. This work therefore examines the potential for atomic-type curriculum manipulation rather than molecular-type manipulation.