Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
North Dakota State University
Exit Interview (2000-2005)
From 2000 until 2004, a general assessment instrument was used to interview the graduating seniors for the IME Department. This instrument assessed the following five categories:
1. Quality of Instruction
2. Curriculum
3. Department Resources
4. Capstone Experience
5. Overall Educational Experience
The metric goal for all five categories was “Good”. The first two categories were consistently ranked at the required benchmark which was “Good”. Department resources for the most part were ranked less than 3 which signified the need for more educational resources. Capstone Experience was ranked close to Good or Excellent and the Overall Educational Experience was “Good” across the board.
In 2005, a new exit interview instrument was developed as part of the continuous improvement process at the IME department. The graduating students are encouraged to make an appointment and complete the survey as part of an interview with the department chair. This will also serve as a way of gauging communication skills of our graduates. The exit interview is available online at http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndsu/ime/htmls/abet_accreditation.htm under Industrial Engineering & Management and Manufacturing Engineering using "Exit Interview Survey" button.
This new instrument has three parts to it. The first section would gauge student success in job search, the second would gauge the program outcomes, and the third section would be program specific for each of the two IME programs. The Industrial Engineering and Management program has 19 questions that are program specific. A correlation with IME Program Objectives, Program Outcomes, and EAC Program Criteria is used for the questions presented in the third section of the Exit Interview Surveys which helps identify the level of assessment for each program objective and outcome.
In all, the graduating seniors are getting more than one interview and are offered usually more than 2 jobs offers. This actually is a very strong feedback from the employers as to the caliper of our students and what they are looking for at the time of hiring. Further more the same companies are returning to campus to hire more of our students every semester which is a reflection of their satisfaction in quality of our graduates and curriculum. In the general part of the survey, the Program Outcomes are gauged and the target benchmark is set at 75%. The IE student’s lowest rating of 3.5/5.0 was for “knowledge of contemporary issues” which was below the benchmark goal.
In the IE&M program specific part of the survey, the lowest rating of 3.3/5.0 was given to effective and efficient solution related to Operations Research by the students. Elements rated low in these surveys will be addressed in the courses impacting these outcomes the most. The changes and improvements made will be tracked in the Faculty Courses Assessment Report (FCAR).