Infusing industry practices into an engineering captsone project: A learning outcome attainment case study

A capstone project in current engineering education is often introduced to enable the holistic attainment of engineering knowledge by an engineering undergraduate. essentially project-based in nature,there exists a need to ensure that part of the attainment process involves key industry practices – such practices being necessary in attaining the status of a professional engineer. herein lies the synergy that can be made use of between industry and academia. by exposing engineering undergraduates to a project which addresses an engineering challenge and providing them with the opportunity to learn from professional engineers who are experts in the fields of safety,sustainability,quality management,ethics and project management,this culminates in the implementation of a prototype design which incorporates the amalgamation of knowledge from industry and academia. this paper presents the unique curriculum developed in a capstone project module,incorporating learning sessions from professional engineers in the five (5) key areas of industry practice highlighted above and how these have contributed to significantly enhancing the learning outcome and hence programme outcome attainment of the engineering undergraduates who have experienced the module. © school of engineering,taylor’s university,all rights reserved.