Algorithm for Planning Flexible Outcome-Based Engineering Curricula to Meet the Employee Needs of a Cluster of Companies

In the last twenty years the graduates of traditional engineering programs could get employment. More than 1000 engineering colleges were closed. One of the reasons is due to an outmoded curriculum without providing any exposure to real-world projects, on-the-job training, flexibility, no challenging problems that demand problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, no case studies, and no exposure to entrepreneurship. By getting feedback from industry representatives, faculty members, and graduates, this action research has been undertaken to develop a flexible, outcome-based, industry-specific curriculum. Further, the credits earned through on-the-job training, internships, courses completed through mass open, online courses, and knowledge earned by self-directed learning and taken into account. These flexible courses have to be accredited and the institutes should offer the needed industrial exposure, industrial training, and advanced cognitive methods, curriculum evaluation based on the fast growth of industrial advancements. The developed algorithm can be adopted to evaluate many other engineering programs. Three successful case studies have also been presented. It is suggested to create policies to offer needed on-the-job training, internships, and compensation to the companies.