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The Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering (BKCASE) project's dual product development cycle spanned a three‐year period from the September 2009 to December, 2012. During this timeframe, BKCASE authors met quarterly at various locations, primarily in various regions of the United States, but also in Stockholm, Sweden; Toulouse, France; London, England; and Rome, Italy (BKCASE, 2009–2019). The team successfully worked through challenges and differences to produce The Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) wiki and a Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE) publication. This article is a collection of personal stories from the team members that focus on overcoming obstacles to successfully produce the final published products.

This paper suggests an evolution to the graduate level systems engineering curriculum framework documented in an International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) report in October of 2007 [Jain and Verma, INCOSE‐PP‐2007‐001‐01, Seattle, WA, 2007]. This evolution leverages the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 15288 Systems and Software Engineering—System Life Cycle Processes standard [ISO/IEC 15288, International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, 2008] as a guide. The evolved framework is presented and consists of six levels of course categories: prerequisite, introductory, technical system life cycle processes, project planning system life cycle processes, infrastructure processes and other broad areas, and capstone courses. Next, 18 systems engineering centric online masters degrees offered by 17 distinct universities are identified as part of a growing base of graduate level systems engineering degrees offered globally through distance education. Specific examples for applying the framework using three of the universities that provide online systems engineering masters programs globally are included. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This paper demonstrates a method that can be used to analyze the degree to which an organization's systems engineering capabilities meet government‐industry defined systems engineering needs. To demonstrate this process, using universities as the case study, we summarize secondary research completed for nine institutions from various countries that offer systems engineering graduate level programs in the space domain. Next, we select a Masters degree program from three universities, one from each country, and map their space‐based systems engineering courses to the 37 systems engineering capabilities within the 10 systems engineering competencies. These capabilities represent the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that systems engineers are expected to possess and perform as a part of their job. We then review a process for a more detailed mapping of the curriculum to one of four levels of proficiency within each capability, using the Stevens Institute of Technology as the example. The result is a systems engineering competency‐based approach that can be used by universities or companies to compare the “as is” state of their systems engineering capabilities development against a government‐industry defined set of needs to identify and address gaps or opportunities in the curriculum, training, or experience of their students and/or employees. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng

This paper summarises the use of a competency-based approach to assess our university's systems engineering curriculum. Our team selected and validated a systems engineering competency model developed from within the space industry to perform an assessment of our core systems engineering courses. Next, we assessed the level to which a student successfully completing our programme, could potentially 'apply', with minimal guidance, those systems engineering capabilities we defined as critical. We identified the gaps or opportunity areas for improvement in our curriculum and based on these gaps, we developed an initial set of actions for improving our core systems engineering curriculum.

This inaugural special edition on ‘Diversity in Systems Engineering’ explores the role of the systems engineering community in embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion as key enablers in the systems approach. As master integrators, systems engineers are accountable for delivering optimal affordable system solutions to complex problems. To do so requires more than an understanding of technology. It requires an understanding of people and social systems ‐ culture and the impact of cultural barriers, the cost of gender inequity, the need for cognitive and idea diversity, and a path to achieve inclusivity by design to name just a few areas. These represent a sample of the topics addressed in this special edition, where authors share their past experiences and forward thinking on the role of diversity, equity, and inclusion in developing systems and global systems engineering leadership.