An Assessment Framework for Interdisciplinary Competence of Engineering Students Based on Combination Weighting Method

The interdisciplinary competence of engineering students (ICES) is critical to addressing complex engineering challenges in social, cultural, and economic contexts. However, there are few studies on the assessment of engineering students’ interdisciplinary competence, and a comprehensive assessment framework has not yet been established. Therefore, we develop a framework for assessing the ICES. First, a set of initial assessment indicators for interdisciplinary competence is proposed by analyzing relevant studies on the assessment of interdisciplinary competence. Subsequently, the Delphi method is adopted to conduct expert consultations, and an assessment framework for ICES is formed that consists of 5 first-level indicators: cognition, thinking, socializing, practice, and reflection. Finally, we use the combination weighting method to determine the weights of each indicator and analyze the development situation, group differences, and students’ attitudes towards interdisciplinary competence among five polytechnic colleges in China. Analysis results showed that the overall ICES scores were relatively low with significant group differences. To investigate the reasons for the low ICES scores, we conducted interviews with 30 participants and found that school curricula, assessment methods, and teacher’s guidance were the main factors hindering the development of ICES.