In this paper, an enhanced integration of theory and practice through progressive contact with the industry, developed at the School of Engineering, is discussed. The contact between bachelor’s students and industrial partners during the initial stage of education is in the form of company visits and guest lectures. This contact is gradually expanded through a trade fair at campus, followed by a special course named Off Campus Integrating Theory and Practice, OITP. In this course, students spend seven weeks, individually, or in pairs, at a company and are allocated a supervisor by the company. The purpose is to explicitly integrate theory with practice, keeping the study programme more reality-based. Many of the students may also do their thesis in a project together with the same company. When a student chooses to study at master’s level, it is an engineer who will participate in OITP 2, the advanced level of the course. Therefore, at this level, it is possible for the student to perform more advanced tasks at the company. The final moment after almost five years of collaboration with the industrial partner, is the thesis for the master's degree. Furthermore, each teacher makes individual visits to at least one industrial partner every semester in order to keep abreast of developments and find appropriate examples of projects using current technology related to teaching. The expected outcome from the course is discussed from three perspectives in this paper; the student, the industry and the faculty perspective. For example, the student gets an opportunity to integrate theory and practice, the company gets an opportunity to follow and hopefully also later employ a student familiar with their concept, and among the benefits to the faculty are pedagogic advantages. Expected challenges and solutions have been identified and are also discussed.
Proceedings of the 9th International CDIO Conference, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 9 – 13, 2013.