Preliminary study on creativity in higher education: Perceptions of engineering instructors

Abstract

This preliminary study investigates the importance of creativity in one institution of higher education in Malaysia that offers engineering programmes in order to understand the perspectives of the instructors on the importance of creativity and the difficulties and ways to encourage creativity in the higher education. An online survey was created and the participants were academic members from three faculties, namely, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Chemical Engineering at the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Sarawak Branch Campus in Kota Samarahan, Malaysia. They were asked mostly quantitative and some qualitative questions. The results indicate that majority of the participants believed creativity can be taught and learned and considered creativity is essential in higher education. Some of the difficulties include lack of knowledge, lack of facilities, resources and time, syllabus, procedures, etc., while ways to encourage creativity include exposure or training on creativity, use of technology, teaching approach such as real case study, open-ended discussions and problem solving and change of system, etc.