Evaluation of laboratory facilities for engineering technology programs in Malaysian technical universities

Abstract

Malaysia is consolidating and strengthening Engineering Technology (ET) programs to produce skilled human resources to spearhead economic growth and achieve the status of a developed nation by 2020. ET programs need to increase the students’ intake to fulfil the industry requirements for technical graduates. The Malaysian Technical University Network (MTUN) institutions and UniKL are among the higher education institutions in Malaysia that offer undergraduate ET programs to produce work-ready graduates. A key component of Engineering Technology curriculum is laboratory facilities. This article evaluated the laboratory facilities at MTUN institutions. We used mainly qualitative data methodology, comprising of focus group interviews, observations and document analysis. We also adopted the quantitative method using survey questionnaires to investigate students’ satisfaction on the laboratory facilities related to the practice-oriented learning at the institutions. The results indicate that the laboratory facilities provided by the selected MTUN institutions are adequate for the current number of students.