Preface

Evaluation in higher education aims to verify whether or not an action or a process has achieved the aims and outcomes that were originally envisaged for it. This book is the first in a series on student feedback in specific disciplines and how it has, or can be, used to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in higher education. It follows on from a book entitled Student Feedback: The Cornerstone to an Effective Quality Assurance System in Higher Education (Chandos, 2010) which focused on student feedback in higher education in general.

This volume, specifically focusing on student feedback in engineering, will provide insight into how the process of evaluation and the design of evaluation within that discipline are currently utilised in a number of countries around the world. More importantly, the book aims to show the reader that student feedback has a place within engineering and in higher education more generally.

This volume introduces student feedback in engineering and draws upon international perspectives within the higher education setting (Contributions come from Chile, Hong Kong, India, Sweden, Thailand, the UK and Australia). A majority of the contributors are practitioners in the field of engineering and some specialise more generally in student feedback; however, all the chapters show contributors’ perspectives on the subject and provide insights into the practices within the contributors’ institutions and approaches utilised in their higher education systems.

There are eight chapters in this book. The introductory chapter offers an insight into the fundamentals of student feedback within the discipline. Subsequent chapters delve into the practices, views and approaches to student feedback in higher education systems around the world. The final chapter draws on the information presented in the earlier chapters and outlines the current trends, issues and the future of student feedback in engineering education. Common themes run through the majority of the chapters: the value of utilising student feedback as part of the various quality enhancement approaches within engineering. The main argument of this book is that such feedback is essential in order to improve the key learning outcomes of engineering education, such as enabling skills to understand, communicate and solve problems. It is also clear that, although the use of student feedback is still in its infancy in many parts of the world, it is linked to the realisation that such feedback is critical in enhancing the quality of engineering programmes.