Bringing Students and Companies together by means of Project Development

Practicing engineers are expected to effectively work in teams and manage projects besides being capable of producing sound technical solutions. Project based learning allows students to improve their skills in issues such as team work and project management, and applying their knowledge in concrete situations. This paper describes an approach to Project Based Learning that has been recently introduced in a Master degree in Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering. In this course unit, students develop a project to solve a problem proposed by a company. A person from the company follows the project development, along with a faculty member. During the academic year 2018-19, students organized developed 14 projects, originating from 12 different companies. The outcome of this first edition is assessed using three data sources: academic data (assessment marks and approval rates); the University quality assurance enquiry; and a survey, developed specifically for “Industrial Project”. The results show that both students and supervisors agree that the course organization is adequate and capable of engaging students and participating companies.

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