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The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2013.01.103 With the ever-increasing complexity of systems, it is important to properly educate the upcoming systems engineering workforce. The Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE) provides guidelines for graduate program degrees in systems engineering. GRCSE establishes a baseline set of entrance expectations, objectives, outcomes and content for any graduate degree in systems engineering. GRCSE recognizes that each university needs to meet the needs of their constituents, and for this purpose, GRCSE only defines 50% of the program content, and leaves the other 50% to be defined by individual universities to satisfy the needs of their stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to introduce GRCSE's outcomes, and how those outcomes can be attained through the program content. GRCSE

Organizing the Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE) for International RelevanceThe Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE) v. 1.0, published inDecember 2012, was developed by an international author team with an explicit aim to provide asolid foundation for improving the consistency and relevance of systems engineering educationaround the world. This paper describes the different issues that the author team faced andaddressed in order to make GRCSE internationally relevant and useful.An early activity in the development of GRCSE was to conduct a survey of systems engineering(SE) graduate programs offered in about 30 universities, internationally. This exposed the authorteam to differences between these programs in a number of issues including matters arising fromlocal market conditions, jurisdictional issues, education traditions, the place of a postgraduatedegree in the education and work career of students, industry domains which needed to besupported, the types of work into which graduates would expect to proceed, and the balance ofsystems-centric and domain-centric SE needs. This diversity was recognized and accepted in theGRCSE project as the contextual facts-on-the-ground which must be accommodated to enable areference curriculum to meaningfully inform program design to an international audience.This wide range of situations existing in worldwide systems engineering education made itinappropriate for GRCSE to be designed in a prescriptive manner, especially if it were to haveinternational relevance. Therefore, it was imperative to design GRCSE in the form ofrecommendations that would be provide enough commonality among these programsirrespective of where in the world they were being offered, but at the same time allowuniversities to tailor their programs to needs and expectations specific to their environment.All these factors led to the development of the GRCSE program architecture formulated as 1. Core material to be learned by all students 2. Concentration material to be learned by students pursuing a particular concentration (GRCSE presents two distinct concentrations as samples). 3. A capstone experience (To be designed by the university, relevant to its program objectives) 4. Other material at the discretion of the University (which can be used to tailor learning to suit the particular context).GRCSE is being considered by universities around the world to either evaluate their existinggraduate programs or to start a new graduate program in SE. The GRCSE authors desire toexpand their understanding of the contexts, needs, and expectations of the worldwide systemswithout losing the desired commonality. !engineering education community and to be responsive to them in future versions of GRCSE. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The Graduate Reference Curriculum on Systems Engineering (GRCSE™) version 0.51 provides recommendations for the development of graduate level systems engineering curricula. These guidelines address student entrance expectations, a core body of knowledge (CorBoK) and an accompanying set of outcomes that the student is expected to master by graduation, and a sample set of objectives that the student should achieve three to five years after graduation. GRCSE also includes guidelines for implementing the GRCSE recommendations and assessing developed curriculum. This paper is focused on the process that has been used to date to develop the CorBoK recommendations presented in GRCSE. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This paper reviews the progress and content of the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) and the Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSETM) products being developed as part of the Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering (BKCASETM) project initiated in September 2009. The version 0.25 of each product was released for limited review in fall 2010; version 0.5 of each product will be released for public review in fall 2011; and final version 1.0 of each product are due out in fall 2012. This paper reviews how these products differ from and build upon existing products, and recounts lessons learned after the first 15 months on the project. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering (BKCASE™) team, comprised of about 50 systems engineering experts around the world, is in the process of developing two products: a Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK), followed by a Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE™). Versions 1.0 of the two products are due out by fall 2012, preceded by two annual interim reviews. This paper reviews the knowledge areas and curriculum guidelines addressed in the initial draft versions of these products. A framework for categorizing the alignment of systems engineering programs to GRCSE is presented. Based on their categorization as initial, emerging, developed, or highly developed, programs can design a strategy for further systems engineering curriculum development. The paper ends with a request for reviewers to participate in the upcoming open (public) GRCSE version 0.5 review scheduled to begin year end 2011. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education. Refereed/Peer-reviewed