PBL to foster integration of company projects in engineering curricula – A case example

New trends and demands on engineering workplace call for more generic and employable competences such as communication, teamwork skills, problem‐solving skills, lifelong learning, and digital literacy. Engineering education institutions are pushed to change and integrate more student‐centred learning methodologies in their curriculum, such as problem‐based, project‐organised learning (PBL). PBL enables engineering students to develop knowledge and competences aforementioned. Furthermore, PBL provides opportunities to increase and diversify the collaboration between universities and industry, fostering innovation. Industry case examples have been proved to increase student interest and motivation. However, this paper describes a step forward on that industry‐university collaboration level: involving companies in the project based learning experience. That is, involving the company in the tutoring and evaluation of a project developed by different groups of students. This could be understood as a dual training format more adequate for intermediate levels of bachelor degrees, when students are not mature
enough to do a job in a company and get paid for it. This paper describes the experience of the Faculty of Engineering, Gipuzkoa (University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain) in supporting PBL integration in curriculum and in building industry collaboration. This paper descries the strategy Faculty of Engineering, Gipuzkoa (University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain) implemented with aim to develop a more innovative engineering education by re‐organising their courses around projects and in collaboration with companies. Furthermore, the faculty’s strategy is compressive, meaning that includes different strategies giving the students different learning experiences and contact with work place and employers in different moments of their education.