The online benchmarking session between the Civil Engineering Faculty, Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia and the School of Civil Engineering, Unitec Institute of Technology Auckland took place on 9th February 2024. The session was attended by 2 lecturers from Unitec and 9 lecturers from various UiTM campuses including representatives from UiTM Cawangan Pulau Pinang, UiTM Cawangan Sarawak Campus Samarahan and UiTM Cawangan Pahang. The focus of the session was to investigate the implementation of the Civil Engineering Design Project subject in Unitec and to compare it with the corresponding program at UiTM. This subject is a compulsory pass course for Civil Engineering Diploma students to graduate from the institute.
The benchmarking session started with a presentation led by Mr. Hugh Wilson from the Unitec Institute of Technology on their current implementation at the institute. Each institution provided an overview of its approach to teaching the Civil Engineering Design Project subject, highlighting key aspects such as curriculum structure, project materials, assessment methods, and student involvement.
Unitec outlined the resources provided to students, such as real-site project briefs and the assessment methods together with their fraction of marks were compared between the two institutes. The relevancy of the course in New Zealand was found to be in line with the needs of industry as it prepares the students to become productive members of a design team which further can be applied to real-world scenarios. Industrial feedback agrees with what has been implemented in the design project. Meanwhile for the curriculum review, national moderation is held annually involving industry as a stakeholder.
It is hoped that both institutions continue to collaborate and share best practices to enhance the delivery of the Civil Engineering Design Project subject. Opportunities for joint projects and knowledge experts could be explored to enrich the course structure.
The online benchmarking session was found to provide valuable insights about the Civil Engineering Design Project subject at both institutes. Continued collaboration and communication between the institutions are hoped to expand in the future to improve teaching and assessment methods.