Engineering is one of the most important areas for developing a country in terms of technological innovation and infrastructure. So, it is essential that a country has good universities to provide these improvements and also to prepare students to have the necessary knowledge in engineering. As this area is very complex to understand because its base is formed by subjects such as mathematics, physics, and chemistry, which require much logical thinking, the students need to spend many hours per day learning theories.
However, how much theory is really necessary for an engineering student in an undergraduate program? Some people think that as much time as students spend in a classroom learning theories, better engineers they will be. Nevertheless, this field of study need to mix theory classes with practical activities such as projects that they can do by themselves. But, in Brazil, engineering students normally spend more than thirty hours per week in theory classes, not having time to take practical activities. So, these students should have fewer subjects and more projects because it provides them a more effective learning, an improvement in their ability to work in group, and a chance to learn different topics.
One of the benefits of having fewer subjects and more projects at Brazilian universities of engineering is it provides to students more effective knowledge. It provides more effective knowledge because when these students work in projects, they need to use many theories they have learned at the university, so they review and apply this knowledge they have learned in a real situation.
Richard N. Savage, writer of “Integrating Project-based Learning throughout the Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum” (2009) explains, “A project, based on solving a technical design problem, gives students a contextual environment that makes learning relevant and focused”. It means that these students can have a contextual environment that is similar to a real situation, so they have an experience that is more focused in what they will find after graduation.
As an example, students who work in projects of race cars need to review and apply many subjects such as design of machine elements, mechanical of materials, practical elements of mechanical engineering, etc, and solidifying this knowledge makes students more able to apply it in a job.
Another benefit of having fewer subjects and more projects is it provides to the students the ability to work in group. It provides this for students because most engineering projects need to be made by more than one person, and it is good because students who work with others learn to develop communication and organization to make a project objective to present the right results.
According to the article “Two Way Integration of Engineering Education through a Design Project” (Journal of Engineering Education, 2000), “Staff from industry valued chiefly the fact that students work in teams from the beginning of their studies and learn to communicate and to present results efficiently”. It means that, as in an industry an engineer need to work with others, the industry valued people that are used to work in groups.
So, it is possible to prepare the students to work in group, to share knowledge, because when these students need to work, for example, in a group of five, they need to decide who will do each part of the project, they need to decide who will carry out the project, and they need to decide methods, dates, meetings, etc, Doing all of these tasks, related to organization, communication, management, etc, these students get prepared to work in a company where they will find other engineers and also people of other functions to work together.
The third benefit of having fewer subjects and more projects is it provides to the students the ability to learn different topics. It happens because two main reasons. Firstly, when the students are working in projects, they can choose an area to work with that is different from what they are learning. For instance, if students from mechanical engineering are working in a plane construction project, they can work in many topics that is taught in their course. However, some of them also can work in the marketing area to bring sponsors companies to the project. So, they can learn a different topic even working in a project of their field of study. Second, having fewer subjects in the university provides more time to work with extra classes activities.
For example, a student of mechanical engineering could do a course about the software Catia, which is not taught in the Brazilian universities, but it is very important for many companies. Also, a student of civil engineering, in the first or second year of university, could already do a course that teaches how to build a house or a building, and start understanding better about this part of study. As it is important for students to develop their knowledge in different topics, they should have fewer subjects, which leads to more free time.
As the Brazilian students of engineering are not prepared to work as engineers at the end of their studies, the universities should revise their curricula to exclude theories classes that are not important for engineering industries. To do that, the universities could have partner companies to understand what is required from well-prepared engineers, what skills they must have.
Then, based on this knowledge , the colleges cold restructure their curricula, being able to remove not important subjects, making the students schedule smaller. After this, the institutes will be able to add projects and practical activities related to those important ones . Therefore, the students will have the opportunity to learn only important theories connected with projects or practical classes, and it will provide to students a more effective knowledge to become a well-prepared engineering.
So, projects and practical activities are really essentials to students because they can learn effective learning, improve the ability to work in group, and have the chance to learn different topics. And, as the Brazilian universities have extensive credit hours of theories classes, they should have less subjects and more practical activities or projects to provides those benefits to students.
If the universities revise their curricula basing on this aspect, the students will graduate with a more effective knowledge and more well-prepared to work as engineers. With this, the companies placed in Brazil will not have to have extensive training programs to prepare each recent graduated engineers, and it is also important for the economy, cause these companies would save money with the training and could invest it in other important areas.
References
2) Giralt, F., Herrero, J., Grau, F. X., Alabart, J. R., and Medir, M. (2000), Two way integration of Engineering Education through a Design Project. Journal of Engineering Education, 89 (2): 219–229. Retrieved from: http://tb4cz3en3e.search.serialssolutions.com/?genre=article&atitle=Two%20Way%20Integration%20of%20Engineering%20Education%20through%20a%20Design%20Project.&title=Journal%20of%20Engineering%20Education&issn=10694730&isbn=&volume=89&issue=2&date=20000401&aulast=GIRALT%2C%20FRANCES&spage=219&pages=219-229&sid=EBSCO:Academic%20Search%20Premier:48056499
3) Savage, R. N., Chen, K. C., & Vanasupa, L. (2007). Integrating Project-based Learning
4) Tapia, P., Manokhoon, K., and Najafi, F. (2004), Practical training in the curriculum of the civil engineering education. ASEE Southeast Section Conference. Retrieved from http://se.asee.org/proceedings/ASEE2004/P2004061civilTAP.pdf
