Higher Education Competences versus Companies Professional Needs in Engineering

NMM1

Natércia Lima, Joaquim Alves, Gustavo Alves,

Polytechnic Institute of Porto, School of Engineering, Porto, Portugal

Engineering and technological learning in educational and professional contexts

2NMM

• Introduction• Master Description and Structure• Collecting and Organizing Internships

• Establishing the First Links• Student Preferences

• Method and Data Collection• Data Analysis and Case Study• Conclusion

3NMM

• Need to reduce the current gap between higher education and the demands of labour work

• Effective information exchange between higher education and the labour market:

• The need of employers to be involved in curricular design

• Matching of job skills between graduates and employers

• Higher Education Institutions can be shaped by the demands of the market

4NMM

• Employees state that graduates:• Have solid knowledge in their field of specialization

• Lack of soft/generic skills – “Peter Pan Generation”

• Higher Education should allow students to develop these skills:• WIL Programs – labour practises in companies, while

at university, subjected to academic supervision and coordination

• Soft skills can be developed through “gap years”, voluntary activities, living away from home, etc

5NMM

• Master in Instrumentation and Metrology Engineering • First Edition in 2012/13

• Wide range of student profiles, with different professional experience, distinct knowledges and skills and varied expectations considering future career positions

• Master study plan considered the development of generic skills and the introduction of a WIL Program

6NMM

1st Year | 1st Semester 1st Year | 2st Semester

Applied Metrology I Applied Metrology II

Industrial Control and Automation Computer Controlled Systems

Industrial Robotics Instrumentation and Metrology in Nanotechnology

Materials Characterization I Materials Characterization II

Optional (one from): Optional (one from):

Business Administration Experimental Statics and Data Analysis

Project Management Operational Research

Quality Tools Reliability Maintenance

2st Year | 1st Semester 2st Year | Annual

CT and MRI Systems Dissertation / Project / Professional Training

Image Metrology  

Open Source Metrology Computation  

7NMM

• At the end of the 2012/13 academic year, definition of the procedure to find a place/position to all the students:

• Contact by email institutions, companies, laboratories

• Face meeting for further enlightenment• Large amount of time spent visiting companies

and formalizing cooperation

8NMM

• Students asked to send by email their preferences• MEIM professors/researchers asked to propose

project themes • List of available projects, institutions/topics • Find Academic Supervisors• Each student assigned with a project or

institution/topic and a supervisor• Schedule a first meeting with the student, supervisor,

master’s direction, company supervisor at the company facilities – student starts his professional training, monitored by the academic supervisor.

9NMM

Is the WIL program useful to support students learn generic skills and/or helps students to enter the labour market?

10NMM

• ISEP´s online portal provides information:

• Attendance registration

• Summaries of lessons

• Class schedules

• Teachers timetables

• Inscriptions and grades of students

• 2013/14 and 2014/15 data; only for the first year the data is complete

11NMM

• Masters student’s data

• CU DPT students

  Enrolled in the master

That have quit the master

Who could enroll in the CU DPT

2013/14 23 7 (30%) 16 (70%)

2014/15 24 2 (13%) 19 (79%)

  Enrolled in the CU DPT

Working students Full time students

2013/14 11 8 (73%) 3 (27%)

2014/15 19 15 (79%) 4 (21%)

12NMM

• Research Project vs Professional training

• Students that have completed the CU DPT

  Proposed by ISEP professors

In their own companies

In other companies

2013/14 4 (36%) 3 (27%) 4 (36%)

2014/15 6 (32%) 6 (32%) 7 (37%)

  Proposed by ISEP professors

In their own companies

In other companies

2013/14 2 (33%) 2 (33%) 2 (33%)

2014/15 NA   NA   NA  

  That have completed the CU

DPT

Working students

Full time students

2013/14 6 4 (67%) 2 (33%)

2014/15 NA NA   NA  

13NMM

• Caetano Aeronautic - specialized in manufacturing airframes for military and civil Airbus planes:

• 2012/13 – one student applied for a position• September 2013 – one student started her WIL Program;

finished in July 2014 and stayed at the company• September 2013 – one student applied for a position• September 2014 - one student started his WIL Program;

finished in July 2015 and stayed at the company• The company asked for at least one more student and will

need more students as it’s increasing

14NMM

• The procedure implemented although at the beginning was difficult and quite time consuming, revealed quite rewarding:• MEIM’s direction as personal hiring mechanism

• Protocols with companies, considering equipment and installation use, study visits, seminars, etc.

• A reformulation of the MEIM’s study plan was carried out

• Students benefit from it:• Develop “generic skills”

• A significant part is hired staying in the companies

15NMM

The results indicate that students can truly benefit from the incorporation of a WIL program to develop “generic skills” and to facilitate their entrance in the labor work, as this program is frequently used as a hiring mechanism.

Thank you for your attention!

16NMM

Natércia Lima - nmm@isep.ipp.pt