The Relevance of BScTE Curriculum of IUT with the Occupations of Automobile Professionals

Abstract

Automobile workshops need skilled professionals to help develop their workshops to provide services to their customers. One of the main goals of this research is to help TVE Department of IUT to produce TVET teachers/ trainers and professionals with specialization in mechanical engineering who ultimately produce TVET graduates who can provide services to this sector. This study aimed to study the relevance of B.Sc.T.E (Mechanical Engineering) curriculum of IUT with the occupations of automobile professionals. The specific objectives of this descriptive type research study are: (i) to identify the duties/ responsibilities and the occupational tasks (competencies) of an automotive professional. (ii) to determine the skill gaps (if any) between the BScTE (specialization in mechanical engineering) graduates and occupational competencies required for an automobile professional and (iii) to assess the present state of the linkage between IUT and automobile workshops/ industries. This is a descriptive type, applied research and mixed method (both quantitative and qualitative) approach was used. The population of this study were managers, technicians, and skilled workers of automobile workshops in Bangladesh and Somalia. For objective (i), survey a questionnaire was designed by the researcher. The researcher used 5-point Likert-type questionnaire for gathering opinions regarding the listed duties and tasks of automobile professionals. For objective (iii) interview questions were also developed by the researcher and a personal interview was used. The findings of objective (i) shows that the occupational tasks of automotive professionals are; to Perform maintenance of intake, exhaust, lubricating and cooling system; to Repair and service ignition system; to Perform Repairing and Servicing Auto Transmission System; Repair and service suspension system; to Repair and service steering system; to Repair braking system; to Replace an ABS control module; to Know how to communicate and care for customers, etc The findings of objective (ii) was based on the outcomes of objective 1 (To identify the duties/ responsibilities and the occupational tasks (competences) of an automotive professionals) the researcher found that there is no significance gap between BSc.TE (specialization in mechanical engineering) graduates and occupational competencies required for automobile professionals. The findings of objective (iii) shows that; IUT has linkage or connection with industries in Bangladesh for internship purposes.