European Journal of Engineering Education, 2014

Vol. 39, No. 3, 300–308, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2013.861388

How many hours of instruction are needed for students to

become competent in engineering subjects?
Alicia Perdigonesa∗ , Susana Benedictoa , Elvira Sánchez-Espinosab , Eutiquio Gallegob
and José L. Garcíaa
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a Department of Rural Engineering, Technical University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain; b Department of

Applied Science and Technology, Technical University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

(Received 1 May 2013; accepted 28 October 2013)

The aim of this work was to compare the curricula of three different agricultural engineering courses and
to determine the competence of graduating students in three subject areas in order to identify possible
shortfalls in the number of hours of instruction (HI) required for full competence to be attained.
A total of 132 students sat a voluntary examination in the final year of their studies to determine their
competence in three subject areas: electrical facilities, machinery and construction. The degree courses
completed by these students are meant to provide them with the legal standing required to undertake
infrastructure projects in agricultural installations.
This work detected significant differences in the competence of graduates in the mentioned subjects,
depending on the number of HI they had received. Students who had received under 120 HI in these subjects
were found to be significantly less competent than those who had received more.

Keywords: professional skills; curricula design; engineering education

1. Introduction

Engineering courses have undergone much reform over the last 10 years, which has inevitably
affected the training of graduates. The new courses on offer allow students greater flexibility in
terms of the curriculum they follow, but this could lead to the detriment of their overall education.
Engineering courses used to include a final technical project or capstone project (Ward 2013), but
this is no longer mandatory in Europe under the current Bologna legislation. There is therefore a
lack of opportunity for students to demonstrate the use of knowledge gained over the years, which
may cast doubts on their competence.
Ideally, an engineering education should prepare students to use a problem-solving process
that combines creativity and imagination with rigor and discipline. Engineers should be educated
to critically examine all aspects of the problems presented to them, to decide which solution
is the best from among those possible, and to be able to complete any design process ensuing
from the choice made (Moore and Voltmer 2003). However, some studies show that students have
difficulties in bringing together the different concepts required to make sense of some problems
(Herman, Loui, and Zilles 2011; Smaill et al. 2012); they usually understand the physical laws

∗ Corresponding author. Email: alicia.perdigones@upm.es

© 2013 SEFI
 European Journal of Engineering Education 301

involved but sometimes cannot use them to obtain practical solutions (Redish and Smith 2008).
Indeed, a newly qualified engineer can take 6–12 months to become professionally competent –
a problem that employers cannot afford to ignore (Paton 2002).
Currently, many proposals are being made to try to reduce the gap between industry’s needs
and the educational content of engineering courses (Vélez and Sevillano 2007; Jing et al. 2011;
Baytiyeha and Najab 2012); many studies have been undertaken that seek to adapt engineering
curricula (Hassan et al. 2004; Davies and Rutherford 2012). However, engineering education
first requires that students grasp the fundamentals of mathematics, mechanics, dynamics and
technology (Redish and Smith 2008); indeed, a broad understanding of fundamental engineering
principles is the foundation underlying all engineering curricula. The number of hours of instruc-
tion (HI) in each engineering area should therefore be sufficient to guarantee competence. The
majority of students state that lectures and hours of instruction are still very beneficial to their
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learning and are not an out-of-date mode of education (Fitzpatrick, Cronin, and Byrne 2011).
Some authors have proposed different model curricula in different fields of engineering and
technology education, and have reviewed the content of instructional programmes around the
world. For example, Machanick (2003) proposed a core curriculum with a four-year structure with
40–45 h per course, and four such courses per year; such timing would allow space for electives
or local specialties. In other work, Berry, DiPiazza, and Sauer (2003) proposed a four-year course
on electrical and computer engineering with a larger HI for the electrical and computing core. The
question remains, however, as to whether the number of HI provided in each area produces fully
competent engineers. This is an important question since the present thrust towards international
standardisation in engineering education demands the objective verification of the effectiveness
of teaching and learning (Tartaglia and Tresso 2002; Patil and Codner 2007), and nowhere more
importantly than in the area of engineering fundamentals.
The aim of this work was to compare the curricula of three agricultural engineering courses
and to determine the competence of graduating students in three subject areas in order to identify
possible shortfalls in the number of HI required for full competence to be attained.

2. Method

Over a three-year period, agricultural engineering students specialising in rural engineering (RE),
environmental studies (ES) (both five-year courses) and mechanisation and constructions (MC)
(a three-year course) sat a voluntary examination in the final year of their studies to determine their
competence in different subject areas. All these courses were offered by the Universidad Politéc-
nica de Madrid (Spain), and all provide students with the legal standing required to undertake
engineering infrastructure projects in agricultural settings: the courses were official degree pro-
grammes. Thus, the students of all three courses should have acquired the competence and skills
required in the subjects of electrical installations, machinery and construction. These three subjects
are typical engineering topics mentioned by ABET (2011) in the Criteria for Accrediting Engi-
neering Programs (section III, Program Criteria, 2011) and should provide the ability to identify,
formulate and solve engineering problems, a basic engineering competence or outcome (Felder
and Brent 2003). Engineering subjects are quantitatively important: FEANI (2006) indicated that
these subjects must correspond to a minimum of 50% of the overall credits of an engineering
course. In our case, Table 1 shows the number of hours of instruction (HI: one credit = 10 HI)
associated with each subject in each degree programme. A year included a total number of 800
hours of instruction for the courses of this study. The figures shown in Table 1 corresponded to a
typical ‘menu’ for a student of each course (the options taken by students may vary slightly). In
this study, hours of instruction were contact hours (lecture and laboratory time). The year when the
students had contact for the last time with the subjects addressed in the exam is shown in Table 2.
 302 A. Perdigones et al.

Table 1. Number of hours of instruction received in the different

subjects in each degree programme: rural engineering (RE), environ-
mental studies (ES) (both five-year courses) and mechanisation and
constructions (MC, three-year course).

RE ES MC

Core
Electricity 85 85 60
Machinery 100 100 135
Construction 85 85 75
Electives
Electricity 120 0 0
Machinery 135 0 60
Construction 255 0 60
Total
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Electricity 205 85 60
Machinery 235 100 195
Construction 340 85 135

Table 2. Year when the students had contact for the last time with the subjects
addressed in the exam. Degree programmes: rural engineering (RE, five-year course),
environmental studies (ES, five-year course) and mechanisation and constructions
(MC, three-year course).

RE ES MC

Electricity 5th year 3th year 2nd year

Machinery 5th year 3th year 3th year
Construction 5th year 3th year 3th year

Table 3. Number of students tested (132 in total). Degree programmes: rural

engineering (RE), environmental studies (ES) and mechanisation and construc-
tions (MC). The figures in parentheses indicate the number of students graduated
from those academic years.

RE ES MC

2005/2006 11 (33) 20 (38) 27 (31)

2006/2007 26 (40) 10 (45) 15 (21)
2007/2008 12 (37) 0 (49) 11 (14)

The voluntary examination (duration 45 min) covered all three of the above subjects and was
sat by a total of 132 graduating students in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 (Table 3).
The same examination was used in all years and for all degree programmes. The examination
was sat in the last four weeks of each course in a classroom where engineering subjects were reg-
ularly taught. The electrical installations component involved 10 questions with ‘true or false?’
answers and a short problem, the machinery section consisted of 15 short questions (each answer
was worth 2/3 of a point in the questions related to machinery) and the constructions component
four short questions and six multiple choice questions. All questions were designed to test whether
the students had acquired basic competence in each subject; examination was designed to evalu-
ate comprehension (understand the meaning, interpolation and interpretation of instructions and
problems) and application (use a concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an abstraction;
apply what was learned in the classroom into novel situations in the work place). Compulsory
skills according to the Spanish university legislation and also demanded by the Spanish agricul-
tural sector were included (Perdigones et al. 2013). Two examples of the examination are shown
in Tables 4 and 5.
 European Journal of Engineering Education 303

Table 4. Short problem of the electrical installations examination (50% of the electricity
mark) to target at competences of comprehension (understand the meaning and interpreta-
tion of instructions and problems) and application (apply what was learned in the classroom
into novel situations in the work place).

One Spanish electrical facility, with single-phase electric power, has the following loads:
– Load with 130 W and power factor 0.8.
– Load with 200 VA and power factor 0.5.
(1) Calculate the voltage drop D (volts) of the electrical line (line supplies to both loads)
using the following equation.
(2) Indicate the voltage of the loads considering the previous voltage drop.
D = 2PL/CAU
P: power (W); L: line length, 100 m; C: conductivity, 50 S m/mm2 ; A: wire gauge or wire
area, 10 mm2 ; U: voltage (V).
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Table 5. Four short questions of the construction examination (40% of the construc-
tion mark) to target at the competence of comprehension (understand the meaning and
interpretation of instructions and problems).

(1) Define the bending moment at a section through a structural element.

(2) Point out three factors influencing buckling critical load of a column.
(3) Define ductility.
(4) Point out the type of stress appearing in a simple beam with fixed ends which is
subjected to a negative temperature interval.

All examinations were marked on a 0–10 scale for each subject, with the same marker for each
subject in each year. The final marks awarded were subjected to ANOVA; the mark obtained in
each subject was the dependent variable, and the independent variables the year in which the
examination was taken and the degree programme – and therefore the total number of hours of
instruction received in each subject. Independent of the year in which the examination was taken,
linear regression analysis was performed to determine whether individual students performing
well in one subject also performed well in the others.
Although a certain subjectivity must exist with respect to the difficulty of the questions set in the
different subjects examined, the marks awarded for each subject (all years taken together) were
normalised, transforming them linearly into a normal distribution, with the mean mark represented
as zero and the variance equal to 1. These results were used to seek relationships between the
number of hours of instruction received (i.e. credits obtained) and the marks awarded. The number
of hours of instruction associated with the mean mark awarded was then determined.

3. Results and discursion

By subject, the overall, non-normalised mean marks awarded were 1.75 for electrical installations
(range 0–9), 4.31 for machinery (range 0–8) and 3.69 for constructions (range 0–9).Although these
results may seem low for graduating students, it should be remembered that the subjects examined
may have been taught (and passed by the students) until four years prior to the examination date.
ANOVA indicated that the degree programme influenced the subject marks awarded (Table 6).
The year of examination, however, had no effect. No correlation was seen between individual
students and the marks obtained in each subject.
The marks awarded for each subject were consequential with the number of hours of instruction
received (credits obtained). Figure 1 shows that, for each subject, the students who received
the greatest number of hours of instruction obtained the highest marks. There was, however,
one exception: the RE students, with 235 HI in machinery, obtained an overall poorer mean
 304 A. Perdigones et al.

Table 6. Overall mean marks awarded (0–10) for each subject for students
of each degree programme. The letters a and b reflect significant differences
between degree programmes: rural engineering (RE), environmental studies
(ES) and mechanisation and constructions (MC).

RE ES MC

Electricity 2.96 a 1.28 b 0.93 b

Machinery 4.40 a 3.64 b 4.62 a
Construction 4.19 a 2.77 b 3.77 a
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Figure 1. Mean mark obtained in each subject (0–10).

mark (4.40) in this subject than the MC students (4.62) who had received only 195 HI in this
subject.
Graduates who received fewer than 120 HI obtained significantly lower marks than those with
more than 120 HI (Table 6 and Figure 1).
It should be remembered that all three degree programmes intend to provide graduates the legal
standing required to undertake agricultural engineering infrastructure projects. Thus, all should
produce graduates competent in all three of the examined subjects. Despite the limitations of
the study, the results show the training of the students following the RE course to be better than
that of the MC students (with significant differences in electrical installations), which in turn is
better than that of the ES students (with significant differences in machinery and construction).
Therefore, the number of hours of instruction in certain subjects in certain degrees needs to be
increased in order to guarantee the quality of graduates, e.g. in electrical installations for students
following the ES and MC degrees, and machinery and construction for those following the ES
degree.
The limitations of the study (only 132 students tested) make it difficult to extrapolate the
results to other subjects or degree programmes. However, the results do provide a sample of
the competence of graduating students in the present subjects. It would therefore seem desirable
that the current situation be improved. The aim should be that future graduates reach a level of
competence no lower than the mean of the present students. This raises the question of how many
hours of instruction (or credits) are needed to achieve this.
Table 7 shows that graduates who have received 60–85 HI in a subject have only a 14.8%
probability of achieving a mark above the mean, while those with 100–205 HI have a 61.6%
 European Journal of Engineering Education 305

Table 7. Percentage of graduates following each degree programme with

marks above the normalised mean. The figures in parentheses indicate
the number of hours of instruction received. Degree programmes: rural
engineering (RE), environmental studies (ES) and mechanisation and
constructions (MC).

RE ES MC

Electricity 34.0% (205 HI) 10.2% (85 HI) 7.7% (60 HI)
Machinery 85.1% (235 HI) 66.3% (100 HI) 90.4%(195 HI)
Construction 70.2% (340 HI) 26.5% (85 HI) 55.8% (135 HI)
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Figure 2. Relationship between hours of instruction received in a subject and the normalised examination mark (mean
mark represented as zero), for each degree programme (n = 24 points on the graph; r 2 = 0.45).

probability. Thus, 60 HI appear to be insufficient for the mean mark to be awarded, while some
100 HI should ensure it can be obtained. Our voluntary examinations showed that some students
with 60–85 HI, taught and passed by the students 1–4 years before the examination, hardly
remembered the basic vocabulary of the subject. Our opinion of these results is that competences
weakly acquired were sometimes lost. Naturally, many other factors influence the degree of
competence acquired than the number of hours of instruction received, although the latter has a
significant influence.
Figure 2 shows the relationship between the number of hours of instruction received in each
speciality and subject, and the normalised mark obtained in the examination for each subject and
year. However, there are only 24 points on the graph instead of 27 since no results were available
for the ES degree programme in 2007/2008. A clear relationship can be seen between the number
of hours of instruction received and the marks obtained, which obeys a curve described by the
following equation:

Normalised mark = −3.7 + 0.067x − 0.43 10−3 x 2 + 1.2 10−6 x 3 − 1.2 10−9 x 4
N = 24, r 2 = 0.45,

where x is the number of hours of instruction received. With 124 HI in a subject the normalised
result would be zero, i.e. the mean normalised mark ought to be reached, and, theoretically, the
same mean degree of competence shown by the present graduating students attained. Any student
with over 124 HI in a subject ought to be better trained than the average student of this study; at
below 124 HI the opposite would be true. A more exigent goal could be to achieve the asymptotic
level (200 HI), not the average.
Using the data in Table 7, the same methodology was followed relating the number of hours
of instruction in each degree programme and subject to determine the probability of obtaining an
 306 A. Perdigones et al.
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Figure 3. Relationship between hours of instruction and degree of competence suggested by the study.

above average mark in each subject:

Probability = 32 ∗ ln(number of hours) − 110

r 2 = 0.33

This equation predicts that graduating students who have less than 60 HI in a subject have only
a 21.0% probability of being awarded a mark above the mean for that subject, while those with 85
HI have a 32.2% probability. Those with 100 and 205 HI have a 37.4% and a 60.3% probability,
respectively, of achieving a mark above the mean.
It would appear that 120 HI (12 credits) are required for the current mean mark to be maintained,
while 60 (six credits) are clearly too few. In the conditions of this study, 120 HI are 15% of a year
of instruction. From our point of view, Spanish society and academic authorities accept today that
the three studied degrees are competent to do agricultural engineering so future degrees should
be carefully designed to maintain or improve this situation. Discussion should focus around the
educational policy implications. Degrees with a low level of hours of instruction (lower that 120) in
engineering basic subjects have serious risks of achieving lower levels of engineering competence
than those presently accepted.
It is reasonable to think that similar results might be obtained for other subjects taught in
engineering courses. Our study suggests a relationship between hours of instruction and level of
competence as shown in Figure 3. Figure 2 shows an asymptotic relationship between hours of
instruction and level of basic competence (comprehension and application); if this relationship
would be equal for medium and high levels of competence (analysis, synthesis), Figure 3 could
be obtained. Further work is needed to confirm these concepts.
Berry, DiPiazza, and Sauer (2003) proposed a four-year course on electrical and computer
engineering with an important computing core (12.5% of the course content) and electrical core
(12.5% of the course content). In the conditions of this study (800 hours per year), these values
mean 400 hours of computing core and 400 hours of electrical core. From our point of view, this
kind of design is desirable to reach a medium or high degree of competence in the desired subjects
(Figure 3) from a quantitative point of view.
 European Journal of Engineering Education 307

Furthermore, it might be recommendable that all graduating engineering students undertake

a final examination, though more wide-ranging than the current one, in all engineering courses
that now have no final assessment exercise. ABET (2011) indicates that students must be pre-
pared for engineering practice through a curriculum culminating in a major design experience
based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work and incorporating appro-
priate engineering standards and multiple realistic constraints. In our opinion, and following
this ABET recommendation, the final year project, which requires the integration of knowledge
acquired in previous years, might be reinstated. This would help control the quality of graduates
(Román-Suero, Sánchez-Martín, and Zamora-Polo 2013) and could provide them with additional
certification regarding their level of competences.
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4. Conclusion

This work detected significant differences in the competence of graduates in three agricultural
engineering subjects (electrical facilities, machinery and constructions), depending on the number
of hours of instruction they had received. Students who have received under 120 HI (obtained
12 credits) in these subjects were found to be significantly less competent than those who had
received more (120 HI are 15% of a year of instruction).
The examined degree programmes are meant to provide graduates with the legal standing
required to undertake infrastructure projects in agricultural installations. However, those who had
received just 60 or 85 HI were significantly less likely to achieve a mark in the tested subjects
above the mean; only 7.7% of those with 60 HI did so, and only 18.3% of those with 85 HI
did so. The mean level of competence was achieved only when 124 HI (12.4 credits) had been
received. Thus, more than 120 HI are required in each subject to maintain the current mean level
of competence shown by these graduating students. Further studies are needed to determine how
many hours of instruction are truly needed to equip graduates with the competence required in
engineering subjects. The findings ought to be borne in mind when preparing students in Europe
via the new Bologna system. Degrees with a low level of hours of instruction (lower that 120) in
engineering basic subjects have serious risks of achieving lower levels of engineering competence
than those presently accepted. These results also provide an argument for reinstating the final year
project as a means of assessing the overall competence of engineering graduates.

Acknowledgements
The work was carried within the educational innovation project entitled ‘Nuevo método docente para el desarrollo de
competencias genéricas (liderazgo, trabajo en grupo), basado en la dinamización del Centro para el acercamiento a la
realidad rural’, financed by Technical University of Madrid.

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About the authors

Alicia Perdigones is a full time Professor at the Department of Rural Engineering at College of Agricultural Engineering
(Technical University of Madrid). She belongs to a group of Educational Innovation in Electrical Technologies and
Automatic Rural Engineering (IE-TEA) which has received an award in educational innovation by the Technical University
of Madrid in 2011. She teaches in the area of agricultural machinery and automatic control.

Susana Benedicto is a PhD student within the Department of Rural Engineering at Technical University of Madrid.

Elvira Sánchez-Espinosa is Professor of Construction and Rural Buildings within the Department of Applied Science and
Technology at College of Agricultural Engineering (Technical University of Madrid). She has 25 years’ experience as an
academic and she is a member of the group in educational innovation named ‘Teaching Innovation Techniques Applied
to Agricultural Engineering’.

Eutiquio Gallego is Professor of Construction and Rural Buildings in the Department of Applied Science and Technology
at College of Agricultural Engineering (Technical University of Madrid). He is a member of the innovation educational
group named ‘Teaching Innovation Techniques applied to Agricultural Engineering’. He has presented several papers at
conferences on higher education and he has worked in different educational projects.

José Luis García is a Full Professor at the Department of Rural Engineering at Higher College of Agricultural Engineers
(Technical University of Madrid) and coordinator of the group Educational Innovation IE-TEA, which received an award
in educational innovation by the UPM in 2011. He works on the adaptation of courses to the needs of companies in the
agricultural sector through various educational projects.