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BSET Program History

Page history last edited by Dr. Ron Eaglin 14 years, 9 months ago

 

·       Program History

The Engineering Technology program evolved from a consolidation of what were formally two separately accredited programs in Engineering Technology, i.e., Design Engineering Technology and Operations Engineering Technology.

 

Engineering Technology was introduced at UCF in the fall of 1972 as an upper division program to provide the opportunity to A.S. degree graduates from the Florida Community Colleges. This was at a time that students, nationwide, were conspicuously avoiding enrollment in engineering programs. The College of Engineering perceived that an Electronics option in Engineering technology and its acceptance of A.S. graduates could be effective in recruiting additional students into the College. Regular engineering faculty would do teaching or adjuncts until such time as need might indicate otherwise. Curriculum design provided additional mathematics, science, technical science, general education and several upper level electronics courses. No lab work was provided since it was assumed that the A.S. program provided necessary hands-on experience and that upper division technical courses should be theory oriented. Additionally, general education requirements not included in the A.S. program would be completed during the Junior and Senior years at the University.

 

The program proved popular, but it was not until 1975 that a full time Electronics faculty was appointed. A second faculty member was hired in 1977. Arrival of a full time faculty marked the beginning of real growth and program development as well as the curriculum evolution that has continued. Laboratory work was added and curriculum brought into conformance with accreditation criteria. The electronics option in engineering technology was first accredited effective 1979.

 

The most significant change in curriculum resulted with the academic calendar change from a quarter to semester system in 1981. A number of courses were combined and the number of courses was reduced, but the material covered and the total effort remained substantially the same. A change in the University General Education program initiated in 1986 required that all students demonstrate foreign language competency as a graduation requirement. This requirement became a College option effective with the 1992-93 catalog year and is no longer required in the College of Engineering.

 

A third significant change for all options offered by the Engineering technology department occurred in December of 1987 when the degree designation was changed from the Bachelor of Engineering Technology (BET) to the Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology (BSET). The degree change was not coupled with any curriculum revision but was granted to better reflect the existing curriculum, which more than satisfied the University requirements for the Bachelor of Science degree.

 

A number of changes and improvements have been implemented since its inception and the first accreditation. They have been of an evolutionary nature and have been documented for the subsequent accreditation inspections that occurred during the periods of 1982 and 2002.

 

The Engineering Technology Program curriculum was originally planned and implemented as an upper division program so as to accept two-year Associate in Science graduates and to credit the student with having completed approximately one-half of the total four year requirements.

 

The two-year degree programs at Florida public Community Colleges are primarily of two types: the Associate in Arts (A.A.) and the Associate in Science (A.S.). The A.A. is intended for students who believe that they will later transfer to a University and finish a Bachelor degree. As such, it includes a major component of “general education” courses mandated by the State to be present in the background of all students who graduate from any University in the Florida State University System. The A.S. degree, however, has objectives of employability for its graduate in the shortest time possible. As a result, it includes a maximum of “technical” courses and very little of “general education”. As the Bachelor’s program at UCF evolved it became evident that what was originally thought of, as a 2 + 2 program was really 2 + 3. The A.S. graduate had been required to complete more lower-level technical courses that could be made applicable to UCF’s Baccalaureate program, but far fewer “general education” courses that would be necessary.

 

Beginning in approximately 1986 advisement information to prospective transfer students and to community college counselors began stressing the A.S. degree was not an optimum path for any one intending to continue to the Bachelor’s degree. Only by very early planning could a student expect to take only those courses that would be applicable. A pre-technology Associate in Arts degree with approximately 24 semester hours of lower level technical courses as electives and a proper choice of mathematics-science component could allow for four year degree completion without excess credits. Fewer A.S. degree students are now entering UCF’s Engineering Technology program, while a larger number of students will have or expect to have an A.A. degree.

 

A major curricular revision was effective with the 1993-1994 Catalog with the consolidation of Design and Operations Programs into two concentrations or options under the Engineering Technology (BSET) Degree Program. This consolidation was viewed as a “repackaging” of the two curricula rather than the development of a new program and incorporated the best features of the previous two programs along with other curriculum improvements. The new program designation better reflected the closely related nature of the Design and Operations Concentrations.

 

The Design concentration of the BSET program was later offered to students in two different tracks: Mechanical Design and Construction Design. Two new concentrations: Space Science Technology and Geomatics Technology have been introduced and implemented within the BSET program since the last accreditation in 2002 in response to student demand and recommendations from the Industrial Advisory Board.

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