A Study on Utilizing Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to Identify Root Causes Contributing to Student Learning Failures in an Academic Environment

Recent developments in technology have created an increasing demand for skilled engineers. It is high time that Higher Education Institutions focused on the quality of student learning. Graduated engineers are expected to have both practical and basic theoretical knowledge, so it becomes important to place an emphasis on factors that could contribute to failure in student learning and alleviate them. This study uses Failure Mode and Effects Analysis – FMEA which is a management tool to identify potential risk factors and rank the factors that could contribute to failures in a scientific manner. In this paper we analyze six critical factors: insufficient course materials, inefficient teaching methods, poor classroom environment, lack of opportunities for practical application, language barriers, and negative peer pressure. This analysis is based on primary data collected from a survey conducted on Undergraduate Engineering students. FMEA analysis takes into account Severity, Occurrence and Detection of each of the six factors and then ranks them by Risk Priority Number (RPN). From the results obtained we can see that the major contributing factors to students’ failure are inefficient teaching methods and a poor classroom environment. By focusing on these factors and creating strategies to eliminate the risk created by them Higher Education Institutions can significantly improve student learning outcomes.