The engineering degree programmes in Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences are currently going through a fundamental change. The old degree programmes are being merged and the new curricula are being designed for the students starting their studies in autumn 2014. The total number of almost 20 engineering degree programmes is decreased to 7. As an example the degree programmes in healthcare technology and media engineering will be merged to the degree programme in information technology and the degree programmes in electrical engineering and automation technology will be combined.
In the new larger degree programmes the students will have more common subjects than before and they will only later on select a major to specialize in. All the studies consist of 15 ECTS study modules. These study modules are organized during one period equaling ten calendar weeks and one year of study will then consist of 4 consecutive study modules. The study modules of the first year are in most cases common to all students studying in certain degree programme. The second year consists then of four study modules related to the major selected by the student and after that the students may quite freely choose their study path selecting study modules from different programmes within certain limits. The students are as well encouraged to select a minor (30 ECTS) from another degree programme or even from different field of study. It is essential to design the timing and contents of these modules carefully in order to make such selection possible for the students.
Many of the degree programmes and majors do have common objectives or topics and therefore it is very efficient to offer the same study modules to students studying in different degree programmes or specializing in different majors. Students from other fields may as well select these study modules as their minors. For example the majors in automation technology, electronics, embedded systems and healthcare technology (in two different degree programmes) have many common objectives and therefore share common modules. This paper presents the curricular structure and several possible student study paths in which the contents of these different majors in two different degree programs are interrelated.
Most of the study modules are finally assessed as one entity (i.e. each module consists of one single 15 ECTS course only). In these modules the teaching is organized by project based learning and all the basic studies (mathematics, physics, communication skills etc.) are integrated to professional studies and the competence based learning objectives are mainly defined based on the professional content. The first project based large courses based on such integration will be arranged in the autumn term 2014. The plans to organize such project based studies are as well presented in this paper.
Proceedings of the 10th International CDIO Conference, Barcelona, Spain, June 15-19 2014