Current practice and teaching of engineering economics in brazilian universities

Abstract

Engineering economics includes tools which permit to evaluate the economic feasibility of alternative solutions considered along with their major technical requirements. Realizing the changes that are being discussed about new approaches in engineering education, this work aims to analyze the practice and teaching of engineering economics in Brazilian universities, thereby contributing to the identification of opportunities for improvements in the teaching and learning process of such concepts and tools in Brazil. The methodology followed was essentially exploratory. Firstly, it was obtained relevant evidence from the general information offered by universities and production engineering departments. Secondly, a questionnaire was used to gather data from the responsible of each identified undergraduate and graduate program. The analysis of this evidence contributes to the understanding of the current practice and teaching of engineering economics in the Brazilian universities, namely which concepts and tools, teaching strategies, interdisciplinarity approaches, partnerships with firms and type of real problems are used.