Development and implementation of a postgraduate technology management program

Abstract

The Faculty of Engineering and Surveying at the University of Southern Queensland is developing a Master of Technology Management (MTM) program that combines postgraduate business courses with specialised courses in engineering and technology management. The first students enrolled under this program commenced in 2003 and delivery of the first courses commenced in the first semester of 2004. Students have been attracted to these courses from fields as diverse as business administration, project management and engineering technology as well as technology management. All are studying on a part time, distance education basis. Most courses developed for this program are new. This has presented a number of challenges for course developers, including enhancing their knowledge base, maintaining parity with current trends in the course topic area, and above all willingly devoting the time necessary to develop a good off campus postgraduate distance education product. A project management approach has been used to ensure that appropriate resources have been available and that development meets likely student expectations as well as time, cost and quality requirements. Online student interaction systems are being used to enhance learning, promote discussion and maintain student contact. Three courses have so far been written for this program and several others are in progress. While it is too early yet to evaluate how well these courses have met student needs, early signs are encouraging. Development of all courses is expected to be completed by the end of 2006. By then, it is intended that a relevant, useful program of courses will be available to equip technological and engineering managers to manage the technology of tomorrow.