Inspired by our diverse academic interests, experiences, and contexts, we are certain that the engineering curriculum lacks interdisciplinary group projects. This denies engineering students an opportunity to collaborate with students from different fields of study to develop inclusive, user-driven, and sustainable solutions. We are proposing an optional module that can be integrated within different degree subjects and be chosen by students to broaden their perspective.
The module structure will be based on a real-world design project that will be proposed by either commercial industries, development organisations or the academic bodies. The timeframe will be a semester long. The module will include a variety of lectures delivered by different departments that will guide students in their projects and deliver knowledge from diverse subject areas. This project will be an asset to students by developing and sharpening their communication, project management and entrepreneurship skills. The ability of the project to gather collaborative efforts of students from diverse backgrounds will inspire ideas that will be implemented in different communities and might impact on the whole world, considering that United Kingdom Universities have diverse international students.
We are confident that our idea will sharpen engineering students’ thinking to be more inclusive, empathetic, and responsible while designing and implementing their university projects that will produce successful and sustainable solutions. Gaining perspectives from multiple disciplines will help Engineering students to prepare for their work in industry. Students from other backgrounds will not be of exclusion. They will equally benefit from learning environmental, social, and economic impacts of their decisions and understanding the importance of application of their own subject to sectors such as energy, water & waste management, through attending the lectures and working closely with engineers.
The students’ collaborative efforts will underpin the world Sustainable Development Goals in different aspects especially goal number 17, which asserts the need for meaningful partnerships for sustainable development.
This is a good idea. Maybe a short course/workshop type format might be better for this type of new subject, collaborative learning.
Thanks Christabel! We thought an optional module might reach more students, especially those who might not actively seek out this sort of collaborative and sustainability-centred opportunity themselves and we think the teaching and the project would be most impactful if spread out over a long duration. We understand a shorter course might be more appropriate though and will be discussing changing the format in our next meeting and hopefully with our mentor!
Hi Team D21-35. Sorry for the delayed response, I have been assigned as your mentor. Hope you are all well.
This is a great idea and something all students would benefit from for their future careers.
Have you researched if Universities already offer this sort of module? Would there be specific ‘real world’ mix of specific disciplines? At Cardiff Uni when I was a Civil Engineering student, we had a design module where we designed a hospital with other engineering disciplines (structural, mechanical and electrical Engineers) which worked really well, as this is the sort of mix you will get in the real world, but there could also have been financial and marketing aspects of it, which could have brought in disciplines other than engineering. Are there specific disciplines you are looking to include, or is it mainly Engineers? Can you give reasons why your pitch will sharpen engineering students’ thinking, maybe pose some questions that would only be answered through cross-collaboration? You mention learning about environmental, social, and economic impacts – are there not modules that already focus on these topics – how would this be different – expand?
How will you engage Commercial industries to get involved? Would they get the rights to use the design, would it be patented? Would you look for sponsorship or would this be funded by the University?
In terms of the end user for the designs, who or where would these be? Could these be used to help Countries where funding and investment aren’t as readily available? How would you engage with them if this is where your focus lies?
“Students from other backgrounds will not be of exclusion” – what do you mean by this statement? How would you encourage students of all backgrounds to get involved? You mention above in your comment that you want to reach more students, especially those who might not actively seek out this sort of collaborative and sustainability-centred opportunity themselves, are you referring to extra-curricular activities such as this EWB design challenge, so by making a module you think they will be more likely to engage?
Happy to meet to talk through if you would like?
Hi Team D21-35, how are you getting on?
Hi Celeste, so sorry we didn't respond sooner, we're almost ready to submit. We're really grateful for your input, you made important points we hadn't considered that we have now tried to address in our final submission. Thank you so much for your help!
Hi. No problem, just wanted to check you were all OK. Look forward to seeing your submission and best of luck! :-)