Design Competitions: A Practical Approach To Improving Students' Hardware And Software Skills

As the complexity of microelectronic systems is steadily increasing, universities must update their curricula to cope with the increased demands of research and development required in industry. By integrating digital design competitions into the undergraduate experience, students are better prepared to enter the field of engineering and make more meaningful contributions to their firms at an earlier rate. Trying to address the current and future needs of the industry in the context of a global economy, instructors at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania and Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, USA, have integrated an annual Digital Design Competition open to engineering students from the above mentioned majors. Competitions at both schools have been sponsored by Digilent and Xilinx. These companies produce state of the art PLDs boards and CAD tools. This paper summarizes five years of experience at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca and two at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology , organizing such competitions. The logistics and challenges of the competitions, results of the past editions and plans regarding the future of these competitions at both schools are presented. Evaluations of the competition and students’ perceptions as an alternative learning experience were investigated through student surveys.