Controlling the Quality of Industrial Engineering and Management Education: Structural Analysis of Austrian Degree Programs and Implications for Higher Education Institutions

Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) degree programs have always been popular and successful, especially during the last thirty years. Many Higher Education Institutions (HEI) offer a wide range of study programs, and this range continues to expand. This has led to the problem that different programs and qualification profiles are no longer clearly comparable. The Austrian
Association of IEMs (WING) sought a solution which woulden sure the high quality of IEM degree programs and the employability of IEM professionals. Therefore, a controlling approach was chosen, which led to satisfactory results, primarily with regard to transparency. This paper presents the approach and the results of a structural analysis and two online surveys, conducted as part of the IEM Profession Online Study carried out in 2018.