1. Employer Involvement In Undergraduate Projects: Staff And Student Perspectives Abel Nyamapfene & Dawn Evans 12 April 2012

2. Project Overview This project is part of a National HE STEM funded consortium project by six South West of England universities to: 1.Explore innovative approaches to involving employers in the STEM undergraduate curriculum. 2.Investigate the transferability of approaches to employer-led experiential learning between different STEM disciplines and the adoption of multidisciplinary approaches by STEM departments 3.Promote opportunities for employers to get involved in the STEM undergraduate curriculum.

3. Specific Project Objectives To compare and contrast the different types of employer- involvement in undergraduate engineering projects from the perspective of students and academics To build a suitable analysis technique for evaluating projects with employer-involvement To identify potential barriers to employer-involvement in undergraduate projects and to suggest recommendations on how to avoid and overcome these barriers

4. Importance of Employer Involvement in Undergraduate Projects – Literature sources Engineering academics generally agree that projects with employer-involvement: Offer great opportunities for students to be involved in rich, challenging and meaningful educational project experiences Enable students to work on finding engineering solutions to real problems faced by industry. Are highly motivational for the students, and eases the transition from university to the workplace.

5. Typical Problems faced by Projects with Employer Involvement – Literature sources Poor communication between the employer, academic and student Mismatch between the expectations of the three parties, leading to deterioration in relationships and subsequent poor project outcomes. Legal problems arising out of issues such as intellectual property rights.

6. Project Methodology A mixed methods approach incorporating: Documentary analysis of 2010/11 third year individual projects Student questionnaires In-depth follow-up student interviews Academic staff interviews

7. In-house Rating of Employer Involvement in Student Projects Level of Industrial InvolvementRating Company provides support fund and sets project5 Company sets the project or sponsors students4 Project set internally but company interested in the results. Named company contact 3 Possible industrial interest identified2 No industrial link1

8. Analysis of the 2010-11 Individual Engineering Student Projects Industrial Involvement Rating Project Distribu tion Seniority Ranking of Academic Supervisors Full ProfessorAssociate Professor Senior Lecturer Lecturer 5 1 0100 4 9 1620 3 15 0663 2 33 36177 1 38 081119 Observation: The distribution of academic seniority in the project rankings suggests that an academic’s level of research activity may contribute to more opportunities for securing projects with higher industrial involvement.

9. In-depth Interviews with Academics In-depth interviews carried out with a lecturer, senior lecturer and associate professor: Observations: 1.All three academics support industry-linked projects 2.Senior lecturer and associate professor regard industry-linked undergraduate projects primarily as a means of developing research links. 3.This suggests that for academics pedagogic benefits of industry- linked projects secondary to research benefits

10. Student Questionnaires Student questionnaires handed out to final year MEng students during a lecture session in October 2011. Cohort is the one that carried out the third year individual engineering student project in the previous academic year 2010-11. 70 questionnaires that were distributed: - 35 were completed and returned - 10 of these were from students who had done industry- linked projects

11. Responses of the 10 Students with Industry-linked projects (1): Relationship with the industrial organisation: Good to excellent 6 Neutral 3 Poor 1 Relationship with the industrial organisation contact person : Good to excellent 6 Neutral 4 Poor 0

12. Responses of the 10 Students with Industry-linked projects (2): Easy to initiating and maintaining contacts with industrial organisation: Agree:9Disagree: 1 NB: Student who disagreed was the same throughout There were prior contacts between the engineering department and the industrial organisation: Agree:9Disagree: 1 Willing to take up employment with the organisation on graduating Agree:9Disagree: 1

13. Student perspectives on skills acquisition Interpersonal skills improved: Agreed - All 10 Technical skills improved: Agreed - 8 Hands-on activities adequate: Agreed - 5 Project was well structured: Agreed - 8 Feedback was adequate: Agreed - 4 NB: Findings suggest that the level of interaction between the students and industrial organisation was adequate and meaningful.

14. Indepth Interview With Disgruntled Student The student’s project involved developing a project idea that an external non-corporate individual had brought. Student did not see it as a project from industry, and he thought the project was “rubbish”. The student also felt that the project had contributed little to employability The student felt that the project had not motivated him, and that was why he had not completed it

15. Closing remarks Academics view industry-linked projects primarily from a research perspective Students generally happy with depth and conduct of industry-linked projects There is a need to manage student expectations if disappointments are to be avoided later on.

16. Have you had experience of projects with employer involvement? 1.Extensive (5 or more projects) 2.Moderate (3-4 projects) 3.Some (1-2 projects) 4.None at all

17. What do you think is the biggest barrier to industry linked student project success? 1.Intellectual Property (IP) 2.Poor communication between the industry partner and university 3.Poor student motivation 4.Poor academic supervisor motivation 5.Lack of interest from industry partner 6.Rigid regulations/bureaucracy

18. How many of the barriers mentioned on the previous slide have you encountered? 1.5-6 2.3-4 3.1-2 4.None

19. How have you attempted to address the barriers to success in industry linked student projects? 1.Through central university action 2.Through departmental action 3.Through external collaboration 4.As an individual 5.Haven’t done so

20. Would you be interested in using the results of this project in your own work? 1.Yes 2.Maybe 3.No