Creative Engineering Education in Collaboration with Community

The purpose of this study is to provide students with a creative engineering education in collaborat ion with local government. It is important for students to tackle problems of local community. Involvement of young people like college students in solving probl ems of local communities will contribute to their revitali zation. Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT) created two introductory engineering design courses (Engineer Design 1: ED1 and Engineer Design 2: ED2). ED1 is taught in the second trimester of the freshman year , and ED2 in the third trimester of the sophomore year. K IT started a collaborative project with Nonoichi Town where KIT campus locates. Officials of Nonoichi Town supplied KIT students of ED2 real project themes, t o which solutions were needed in order to improve town life. The officials provided students with valuable information and practical advice. As a result, stud ents were able to generate excellent and viable design solutions.