Development of project- and work-life skills in multidisciplinary engineering student project

Abstract

Modern engineering education faces many challenges due to the rapid development of technology and the growing requirements of work-life. If it is to match the demands, education should contain multi- and interdisciplinary work-life skills, as well as general skills. Flexible curriculum content and real-life project learning provide an efficient way to organise such education. The combination of hybrid learning with practical work provides students with the freedom and motivation they need for learning. This paper presents an example with students’ perspectives of an ongoing multidisciplinary student project in the Lapland University of Applied Sciences mechanical engineering degree programme. The project combines skill- and competence areas from three different courses. This includes the areas of design and manufacturing skills as well as project management with hybrid learning and practical laboratory work. A questionnaire was arranged to map students’ perspectives of the development of general and work-life skills during the project. Such project learning effectively supported the development of technical skills and work-life competencies. Further development is required to make the project arrangement clearer and enhance multidisciplinary learning. This paper implies that using flexible implementation within the curriculum and connecting courses in one project entity can efficiently support the development of students’ professional and general skills.