establishment of a new undergraduate program “mechatronics...

Establishment of a New Undergraduate Program “Mechatronics”

in E-JUST

Abdelfatah Mohamed, Ahmed Abou El-Soud, Mohamed Fanni, Samy Assal, Ahmed Fath-Elbab, Victor Parque,

and Masaaki Suzuki

Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology

E-JUST Background and History • Japan’s Prime Minister visited Egypt & Saudi

Arabia in May 2003 to strengthen the dialogue between Japan and the Arab world.

• March 2009 - Signing of the bilateral agreement to establish E-JUST.

Egypt government will sponsor land, infrastructure and buildings, and cost of Egyptian academic and administrative staff.

Japan government will cover equipment through a Grant Aid project and Japanese academic staff through JICA.

• February 2010 - Start of Graduate Schlool

– 8 Interdsciplinary departments.

• 61 PhD and 62 MSc have graduated since then.

Undergraduate Program E-JUST Plans to open “Undergraduate Program” in SEP. 2017

Faculty of Engineering

• Electronics and Communication Engineering

• Computer Science and Engineering.

• Electrical Power Engineering

• MECHTRONICS ENGINEERING.

• Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

• Materials Science and Engineering.

• Energy Resources Engineering

• Chemical and Petrochemical Engineering.

Faculty of Humanity and International Business

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E-JUST Undergraduate Program • Active Experimental Learning: Lab based learning and project based

learning and problem based learning.

• Multidisciplinary modern curriculum distinguishing E-JUST graduates from other in Egypt and the Middle East.

• Focus on the international trends in higher education focusing on soft skills, entrepreneurship, business skills, environmental and energy related issues.

• Exposure to sophisticated research environment during the senior year in research labs or industrial sector.

• Focus on research related activities in the senior year encouraging students to join the graduate Meng, MSc and PhD programs in E-JUST.

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General Definition Mechatronics is a multidisciplinary field, Mechanical Engineering Electronics systems Computer science Control Systems Originally, mechtronics just included the combination of mechanics and electronics, however as technical systems have become more and more complex the definition has been broaden to include more technical areas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering

Education in Multidisciplinary Field

Graduate Education

• It is proper for mechanical engineering background students to study electrical engineering and mechatronics.

• It is proper for electrical engineering background students to study mechanical engineering and mechatronics.

Undergraduate Education

• It is difficult for students who has no engineering knowledge to study mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and etc.

• It is important for us to give the essential subjects needed in mechatronics with avoiding the half-finished education of mechanical engineering and electrical engineering, especially for undergraduate education.

Undergraduate Program E-JUST has 7 year experience of master and doctoral

education for related mechatronics engineering field. E-JUST has fostered 15 MSc and 10 PhD holders during

this period. E-JUST decided to have an undergraduate program

“Mechatronics” in the occasion of opening the undergraduate school. The followings are the concepts of the new program.

Social Needs 1. New Engineering skills according to he increasing demand for

industrial automation calls • combination skills of mechanical, electrical, electronics,

control engineering and computer science. 2. This motivates the development of Mechatronics program for

undergraduate engineering • which produces an innovate engineer ready to design and

solve problems related to electromechanical and control problems.

3. Mechatronics engineer can serve in automotive industry, in

home automation, aerospace, consumable products and appliances.

4. He can work in all fields involving robotics for manufacturing, assembly and services as well as medical devices and micro-systems. He can also serve in industrial sectors which needs programmable logic control and supervisory control.

Objectives of the program are:

1. To provide a firm foundation in mathematics, engineering and basic sciences as required by the engineering discipline.

2. To provide a selection of interdisciplinary and general education courses that will enhance students’ understanding of the economic, environmental, ethical, political, societal, and cultural impact of their engineering solutions and/or decisions.

3. To provide the essential tools and fundamental background of the disciplines of Mechatronics Engineering. Encourage self-learning, life-long learning, and help develop a strong sense of responsibility.

4. To provide students with a satisfactory level of competence in the analysis and solution of engineering problems.

5. To provide students the opportunities to work in a team, either as a member or as a team leader.

6. To prepare the graduates for the industry or postgraduate studies.

Description of the meta- profile of the new program We defined the “Mechatronics engineering” the synergistic integration of precision machinery, electronics and information technology to design innovative components and systems to create functional and smart products. The research priorities of the program are in the areas of bio-Mechatronics, autonomous robots, intelligent control systems, smart sensors/actuators, and Micro/Nano Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS/NEMS) for industrial, automotive, and bio-medical applications.

In order to foster engineers in this fields, we defined the meta-profile for this engineering field. and we define the competences and outcomes of this program.

Definition of the competences. The competences which students obtain in this program were extracted from the meta-profile as mentioned above. The competences are two categories; specified competences and general competences. General competences include basic and intermediate levels, whereas, specified competences include specialization.

General competences • G1. Competences to be able to communicate with engineers,

partners and communities, including international community. • G2. Competences to describe the reports properly and to present

to audiences. • G3. Competences to have a leadership and administrate the team. • G4. Liberal arts and common sense. • G5. Competence of engineering ethics. • G6. Ability to critical evaluation and self-awareness. • G7. Commitment to lifelong learning. • G8. Flexibility and adaptability.

Specified Competences • S1. Competences to understand scientific background of

mechanical engineering bases and apply to Mechatronics Engineering.

• S2. Competences to understand science background of control and computer systems and apply to Mechatronics Engineering.

• S3. Competences to define specified problems and to solve them. • S4. Competences to design new Mechatronics systems.

• S5. Capacity to create, innovate and contribute to technological

development • S6. Skills in designing and building Mechatronics systems. • S7. Capacity to integrate electrical, mechanical and software

modules to design Mechartronics system. • S8. Providing Mechatronics engineering solutions to social

problems.

Description of Intended Learning Outcomes, ILOs As a next step, the ILOs were defined according to the competences, which are discussed in the above section.

General Outcomes.

a) Apply knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering

concepts to the solution of engineering problems.

b) Design and conduct experiments as well as analyze and

interpret data.

c) Design a system; component and process to meet the required

needs within realistic constraints.

d) Work effectively within multi-disciplinary teams.

e) Identify, formulate and solve fundamental engineering

problems.

f) Display professional and ethical responsibilities; and contextual

Understanding

g) Communicate effectively.

h) Consider the impacts of engineering solutions on society &

Environment.

i) Engage in self- and lifelong learning.

j) Demonstrate knowledge of contemporary engineering issues.

k) Use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools,

necessary for engineering practice.

Specialization Outcomes.

l） Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of basic science and engineering fundamentals in mechanics, electronics and software and their interfacing; m) Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of fundamentals of problem identification, formulation and solution in the interdisciplinary fields of Mechatronics; n) Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the principles of sustainable design and development; o) Able to identify at an appropriate level the design, production, interfacing and software needs of different parts of Mechatronics systems.

P) Able to create solutions to Mechatronics systems especially to manufacturing, maintenance and interfacing problems in a creative way, taking account of industrial and commercial constraints q) Able to compete, in-depth, in at least one engineering discipline, namely mechanics, electronics or interfacing and software; r) Able to manage field problem, identification, formulation and solution; s) Able to utilize practical systems approach to design and performance evaluation; t) Able to apply the principles of sustainable design and development

Table shows the results of checking the consistency of the program ILOs (a~t) and the competences (G1~G8, S1~S8). From this result, it is found that ILOs satisfy the competences.

Co

mp

eten

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Program ILOs Checking the Consistency of the Program ILOs with the Competences

Course description of Program Finally, we specified the units/courses/modules of the program. The mechatronics engineering program consists of the following courses in the following slides. Also, the methodology of learning strategy for achieving the competences such as lectures, tutorials and labs are given in the followings.

Course description of Program (1)

University Requirements Faculty Requirements

Checking the Consistency of Course Subjects with Outcomes (1)

Faculty Requirements Department Requirements Specialization Requirements


Specialization Requirements Specialization Requirements


University Requirements Faculty Requirements Faculty Requirements

Course Description and Work Load (1)

University Requirements

Faculty Requirements


Department Requirements

Specialization Requirements



Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) and Alignment Also, through discussions based on the ideas provided in the learning course, we defined relevant Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) activities for our Undergraduate Program as shown in the following Tables.

Teaching and Learning activities (1)

We found that the entire process of integration and alignment (competences - ILOs - Learning, Teaching and Assessment) ,

(1) is holistic since it considers the whole systems involved in proposed the Undergraduate Programme),

(2) is integrative since it considers relevant stakeholders involved in the education process,

(3) is systematic since we proceeded from competences towards an integrative alignment, in gradual steps,

(4) is progressive since basic knowledge of the building blocks on ILOs formulation is essential to formulate an student-centred educational programme,

(5) is hierarchical since the alignment process is top-down, from graduate competences – programme – course,

(6) is cyclic in / for our continuous refinement.

Conclusion We prepared “Mechatronics” program based on the experience of education in the graduate school, and on the knowledge obtained in the Tuning Africa meeting. Currently, this program is under the inspection of the Supreme Council of Universities in Egypt, as an official procedure needed for launching the program. We believe that it is a good practice of Tuning Africa Program.

establishment of a new undergraduate program “mechatronics...

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