KNOWLEDGE GAINED BY WORKING IN UNIVERSITY–INDUSTRY COLLABORATION PROJECTS

KNOWLEDGE GAINED BY WORKING IN UNIVERSITY–INDUSTRY COLLABORATION PROJECTS

M. Säisä, S. Määttä, J. Roslöf (2019).  KNOWLEDGE GAINED BY WORKING IN UNIVERSITY–INDUSTRY COLLABORATION PROJECTS. 10.

Many surveys from recent years emphasize the interdisciplinary skills of job candidates, such as communication, organization, teamwork and social skills. Companies tend to value practical work experience that provides evidence of the applicant’s capabilities and potential. The CDIO initiative also adduces the importance of interpersonal skills. The CDIO Standard 7, Integrated Learning Experiences, sets the focus on fostering the learning of disciplinary knowledge simultaneously with personal and interpersonal skills as well as product, process, and system building skills. Accordingly, the CDIO Standard 8, Active Learning, engages students in analytical thinking and problem-solving activities, strengthening also the students’ motivation and reflection on what they have learned. Students ought to gain both disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge in order to become future engineering professionals. Usually, courses in higher education provide fundamental knowledge and skills during the studies. In addition, students should work in authentic contexts and environments to deepen their competences and thus, become more ready for working life. This case study analyzes a set of soft skills students have attained by working in “theFIRMA”, a project-based learning environment at Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS), Finland. The analyze is done based on the survey done for the alumni of the learning environment. The results of the survey indicate that theFIRMA or its previous forms have had a great impact on the work possibilities and the skills students have attained while working in the learning environment. In addition, the most valued interpersonal skills of the alumni are the same skills that the companies recruiting value the most. Thus, it seems that the integration of project-based learning and interpersonal skills works smoothly. 

Authors (New): 
Marika Säisä
Sanna Määttä
Janne Roslöf
Pages: 
10
Affiliations: 
Turku University of Applied Sciences, Turku, Finland
Keywords: 
Soft Skills
university-industry collaboration
Project-Based Learning
ICT
R&D learning environment
CDIO Standard 7
CDIO Standard 8
Year: 
2019
Reference: 
Berger, G. (2016). Soft Skills Are Increasingly Crucial To Getting Your Dream Job. Available: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/soft-skills-increasingly-crucial-getting-your-dream-guy-berger-ph-d-/ retrieved 11.1.2018: 
Brennan, R. W., Hugo, R. J. (2017). A Self-Efficacy Survey for Engineering Graduate Attributes Assessment. In Proceedings of the 13th International CDIO Conference.: 
Crawley, E., Malmqvist, J., Östlund, S., & Brodeur, D. (2007). Rethinking Engineering Education – The CDIO Approach, Springer.: 
Deming, J.D. (2015; 2017). The Growing Importance of Social Skill in the Labor Market. National Bureau of Economic Research. : 
Einarson, D., Saplacan, D. (2017). Addressing Integrated Learning Through Project Based Courses – Five Years of Improvements. In Proceedings of the 13th International CDIO Conference, pp. 161-171.: 
Lippman, L. H., Ryberg, R., Carney R., Moore K. A. (2015). Key “Soft Skills” that Foster Youth Workforce Success: Toward a Consensus across Fields. Available: https://www.childtrends.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/06/2015-24WFCSoftSkills1.pdf retrieved 20.12.2018: 
Martins, F. & Ferreira E.P. (2016). Integrating CDIO Skills by Teamwork in a School of Engineering – ISEP. In Proceedings of the 12th International CDIO Conference: 
Meikleham, A., Hugo, R., & Brennan, R. (2018). Blended and Project-Based Learning: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. In Proceedings of the 14th International CDIO Conference, pp. 511–525: 
Morning Consult. (2019). THE PEOPLE FACTORY: Uniquely Human Skills Tech Can’t Replace at Work. Survey. Available: https://embed.widencdn.net/pdf/plus/cengage/jp8afotc2l/people-factor-ebook911294.pdf retrieved 25.1.2019: 
Määttä, S., Roslöf, J., & Säisä, M. (2017). Development of the Learning Process in a Project-Based Learning Environment. In Proceedings of the 13th International CDIO Conference, pp. 270–278: 
Säisä, M., Määttä, S., & Roslöf, J. (2017). Integration of CDIO Skills into Project-Based Learning in Higher Education. In Proceedings of the 13th International CDIO Conference, pp. 234–244.: 
Go to top
randomness