Ingeniería e Investigación (Sep 2015)

Developing students’ aptitudes through University-Industry collaboration

  • Miguel Aizpun,
  • Diego Sandino,
  • Inaki Merideno

DOI
https://doi.org/10.15446/ing.investig.v35n3.48188
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 35, no. 3
pp. 121 – 128

Abstract

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In addition to the engineering knowledge base that has been traditionally taught, today’s undergraduate engineering students need to be given the opportunity to practice a set of skills that will be demanded to them by future employers, namely: creativity, teamwork, problem solving, leadership and the ability to generate innovative ideas. In order to achieve this and educate engineers with both in-depth technical knowledge and professional skills, universities must carry out their own innovating and find suitable approaches that serve their students. This article presents a novel approach that involves university-industry collaboration. It is based on creating a student community for a particular company, allowing students to deal with real industry projects and apply what they are learning in the classroom. A sample project for the German sports brand adidas is presented, along with the project results and evaluation by students and teachers. The university-industry collaborative approach is shown to be beneficial for both students and industry.

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