QUANTITATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN IRAN AND THE CHALLENGE OF IMPROVING ITS QUALITY

Today, higher education systems in general and engineering education in particular play a significant role in the sustainable development of countries. On the other hand, the production and development of different technologies has created new conditions for engineering education systems and has doubled its importance. In other words, engineering education should train engineers who can design effective solutions to meet the needs of society and adapt to new technological trends and tools, considering sustainable development. Therefore, along with the quantitative growth, the improvement of the quality of engineering education has been considered. In this regard, although Iran’s engineering education system has enjoyed increasing growth in recent years, its quality is challenged by overemphasis of the curriculum on theoretical knowledge, the mismatch of skills of the graduates with the needs of the labor market.  Then, as graduates lack entrepreneurship skills their unemployment causes problems.   Based on the above, this article, while examining the quantitative expansion of students in the engineering education system, analyzes challenges and the need to strengthen monitoring and assessment process to improve its quality. Then, the current situation and ideal role of Iranian Institute for Accreditation of Engineering Education are discussed.