CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

AE Department is committed to academic excellence as the way to achieve the vision of the department, “offering leadership in aerospace education and research.”  Based on the previously stated core values of the department (see Criterion 2), the program mandates systematic review and improvement of every aspect of the undergraduate education, and ensures institutional memory of improvement activities through documentation requirements.

Improvement of undergraduate education is the core concept and guiding principle of the program.  Informed by ABET EC2000 requirements, the process started in 2004 by re-engineering of the program (Ishinsuru) and establishing the guidelines of the continuous improvement process (Kaizen). 

The continuous improvement process is composed of review and improvement activities that cover every element of the undergraduate education program ranging from individual course offerings to the entire undergraduate curriculum.  Program constituencies are an integral part of the process (as shown in the following figure ) and openness with these constituencies is one of the core values of AE Department.

 Continuous improvement cycle