Process for Improvement and Evaluation of the Agricultural Engineering Curriculum at the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica

The study of Agricultural Engineering began at the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica in 1976, with a university bachelor's degree. The curriculum was updated in 1988, when the first undergraduate degree programme was initiated. In 1995, the curriculum was updated, and it transitioned to the curriculum that began the process of international accreditation by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) in 2007. In 2016, international accreditation was obtained for six years. To improve the curriculum, a new curriculum was created in 2016, which will be evaluated and reaccredited in 2022. Currently, there is a career study underway to propose a new design that incorporates emerging technologies and current career needs, with the graduate attributes outlined in the Washington Agreement and the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as cross-cutting themes. The following is the justification for the career redesign carried out in 2007 and the rationale for the study initiated in 2021 to modernise our agricultural engineering, as well as the entry profile of students defined by the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica in 2021. The basis for redesigning the undergraduate degree in agricultural engineering of the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica in 2007: development and innovation of the curriculum programme. This marks the departure of the course towards international accreditation and reaccreditation, and this developed a process of rigorous analysis and evaluation that has been the foundation for the redesign initiated in 2021 and whose methodology has been successful within the institution.