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Industrial product design project: building up engineering students’ career prospects

ABSTRACT The needs to bridge the academic skills of students involved in higher education and improve their readiness for employment in industry are being widely addressed. Most academic curricula cover the natural, technical and scientific topics of engineering in depth but lack practical engineering experience and soft skill development crucial for a successful engineering career. A novel national tender-based programme has been launched to provide students with industrial-grade experience during studies through direct cooperation between students, university staff and the industry. This paper presents results of a specific engineering project case supervised by the authors. Within the project, students got an opportunity to practice engineering skills without sacrificing the time needed for a company-based internship. During a 6-month project, a group of interdisciplinary students designed an instrument as specified by the industrial project partner. Participation in the project was optional and organised as a student’s side activity. The project was stimulating development of a range of engineering competences and soft skills among the participants. The participating students showed an above-average commitment and responsibility, fulfilling the specified project goals. The indirect measures demonstrate the positive influence of participating in the project on the career futures of the students.