Description:
This document presents benchmarks and guidelines for undergraduate first-degree (bachelor, B.Sc.) programs in the fields of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering (ITEE). The embraced programs are Computer Science (CS), Information Technology (IT), Information Systems (IS), Computer Engineering (CE), and Electrical & Electronics Engineering (EE). All of these programs are currently offered by most of the national Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that award undergraduate programs. These HEIs are universities as well as university colleges and institutes.
This manuscript describes the expectations of graduates of the fields covered by this study, and shows how graduates of each field or discipline differ from those of other disciplines. It illustrates the expected background, knowledge areas, and professional practical and transferable skills employers expect to find in graduates of ITEE programs. The volume of study (credits) for each field of study is presented. Furthermore, various groups of topics are presented along with their respective weights for both minimum (Threshold) and superior (Excellent) level programs. These weights as published by ACM were reviewed by an expert group from our national faculty members who work at all national HEIs that provide the first university degree of computing and engineering programs, and are accordingly tabulated. Besides this volume of study (credits) it is recommended to include the students' work load hours for each course in the program specification's document in order to provide the students with appropriate indications of the needed efforts.
This guide seizes its importance and usefulness from the fact that, presumably unlike most of areas of specializations, the programs covered in it are interrelated and overlapped. Hence, it has been decided to highlight the distinctions, sometimes clear and other times vague, between them. ACM methodology qualitatively distinguishes between them. We complement it by a quantitative approach; Fig. (1) shows how the expert group did comparatively perceive the ITEE programs vis-à-vis the different knowledge areas and skills.
This benchmarking document is proposed as a useful tool for all those who are responsible for designing programs in the computing and engineering fields. The wide range of information is not intended to be exclusive but rather representative of the diversity of knowledge and skills that have to be considered when improving a program of study or designing a new one. In fact the user will see himself/herself forced to take difficult decisions when it comes to replying to all the requirements as specified by the benchmark and abiding by the constraints and regulations of the Higher Education Institution. But also, while the benchmark is one per specialty, each institution can be creative enough to come up with a distinctive program.
Furthermore, this script offers guidance to higher education national stakeholders, including prospective students, their parents and guidance counselors, Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission (AQAC), Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE), private sectors such as the Engineering Association, the Palestinian Information Technology Association (PITA), and the Palestinian Federation of Industries (PFI). Finally, it offers guidance to a broader audience, including regional and international higher education stakeholders.