Company projects: A guide to targeted and systematic company collaborations in the engineering programmes

This guide to targeted and systematic company collaborations has been prepared in order to provide some concrete models and recommendations for programme planners to lean on when they want to increase engineering students’ contact with business life over the course of the programme. However, the project has been limited to providing insight into how, from a problem-based learning perspective, so-called “company projects” can be worked on, i.e. projects where companies play a role in students’ problem-oriented project work. The project has been prepared by the Centre for Problem-Based Learning in Engineering Science and Sustainability under the UNESCO Presidency with support from the Danish Association of Engineering Bachelors’ Anniversary Fund of 1980. Aalborg University is used as a case for developing the guide. A screening of study programmes has been carried out to map the formal starting point for educational activities involving company collaborations and their associated learning objectives. Experiences from schools, study boards, co-ordinators, and supervisors of students’ company projects have been included, as have students who have been involved in specific projects in collaboration with companies. In addition, company representatives and researchers in the field have also contributed their input and perspectives on the collaboration with engineering students. These case inputs have been included in blue boxes throughout the report, and has also informed the more general recommendations. The experience from internships has also been compared with other studies or with extracts from documents which may contribute to the understanding of company collaborations in the engineering programmes. This has also provided both background material and specific input which has been shared more directly in the light blue boxes throughout. We would like to extend a big thank you to the Association of Engineering Bachelors’ Anniversary Fund of 1980, who chose to support this project. In addition, we would like to extend our gratitude to all those who have contributed to the project by setting up interviews and sharing their expert knowledge of company projects – without this valuable input, the guide would not have become a reality. Also, a warm thank you to Jesper Christensen, who posed to be photographed at the beginning of his company stay, and thanks to Reno Nord for creating the setting for this. Last, but not least, a big thank you to Vice Dean Lars Døvling Andersen, of Aalborg University, for his support and input to initiate the project. Last but not least, we would like to note that this guide is a translated and only slightly revised version of the 2018 Danish report: “Virksomhedsprojekter: En guide til målrettet og systematisk virksomhedssamarbejde I ingeniøruddannelserne . . https://vbn.aau.dk/da/publications/virksomhedsprojekter-en-guide-til-m%C3%A5lrettet-og-systematiske-virks. December 2020 Jette Egelund Holgaard, Stine Bylov & Anette Kolmos