Assessment of the workload of industrial engineering graduate students: an exploratory study

Abstract

Academic performance depends on the workload of students, and it is influenced both by individual factors and the institutional context. However, in the Brazilian post-graduation, more specifically in the area of industrial engineering, little is known about the workload intensity, contributing factors, and control measures. This study presents an exploratory assessment of the workload of graduate students of industrial engineering. The assessment was carried out in a leading national post-graduation program. It was based on semi-structured interviews with three students; the application of a questionnaire (adapted from the NASA-TLX) to thirty-three students; and a feedback meeting to discuss the results of the questionnaire. The results indicated that the workload is very high and similar across the three levels of post-graduation: professional master’s degree, academic master’s degree, and PhD. Other noteworthy results were related to the high level of frustration of the students of professional master’s degrees; the high level of effort in the academic master’s degrees; the high mental demand in the PhDs; and the high temporal demand for students who have professional activities in addition to the academic ones. Some contributing factors for the high workload were also identified, such as insufficient support from the supervisor; involvement with academic activities that are not directly related to the research project; self-imposed pressure for high performance; and fear of not meeting the deadline.

Keywords:
Workload; Post-graduation; NASA-TLX; Industrial engineering; Learning