JANETKA, Pavol1, VOKOUN, Zbynek2, SPERKA, Petr3 & KUNCICKA , Dagmar4
Technical University of Ostrava, tr.17.listopadu 15, 708 33 Ostrava-Poruba, Czech Republic
1 apollonx@hotmail.com
2 z.vokoun@usa.net
3 petr_sperka@hotmail.com
4 dasa_kuncicka@yahoo.com
Abstract:
The goal of this paper is to present and summarize some experience carried out at one successful student program sponsored by Hayes Lemmerz International company.
This program includes cooperation with the Technical University of Mining and Metallurgy in Ostrava, the University of Michigan and Access International Language School in USA.
Cooperation among universities and industry play a crucial role in Engineering Education.
This paper describes all steps of the program and also compares some differences between the education system in the USA and the Czech Republic.
Generally, any kind of program should be a benefit for both the company and the university.
For the past few years, the majority of the technical universities in the Czech Republic have been searching for their own identity.
However, cooperation between universities abroad as well as good partnership with industrial companies will have priority in the near future.
This will have a strong impact not only on Engineering Education, but also on all society.
Universities as institutions of education should guarantee a quality of education according to requirements and problems of the new millennium.
"Engineering is the art of applying scientific and mathematical principles, experience and judgment and common sense to make things that benefit people." (American Society for Engineering Education.) What should be a priority in a future Engineering Education? What kind of tasks a future engineers will be faced? What kind of problems they will be challenged? Will they be able to succeed? The answer for some of those kind of question is in the nearest future.
What we know for sure, the futures' engineers can succeed only if they will be treated well.
Keywords: Engineering, Education, experience, IASTE, TEMPUS, FETP
In 1993, an American company Hayes Lemmerz Int.(HLI), the world's largest manufacturer of automotive wheels, decided to purchase Autokola, a division of Nova Hut (NH). NH is one of the biggest steelmaking concerns in the Czech Republic. At this time, Autokola had monopoly for production of car wheels in the country.
New HLI management started to search for a source of their future employees. The most appropriate source seemed to be the Technical University of Ostrava (TUO) where students graduate with adequate education. These conditions established background for the future cooperation between HLI and TUO.
In early 1998, the cooperation resulted in an actual offer of 1-year Future Employees Training Program (FETP) for 4 TUO students. HLI came out with these basic requirements for the students:
HLI preferred students with technical background who should become a part of HLI management in the future. The two round interview for this program took place at TUO with participation of Prof. Wei Yang from the University of Michigan (UM), the coordinator and advisor of this study program in the U.S. The final decision was made by HLI Headquarters in Italy, Germany, and the U.S.
The goal of the program was to improve English communication skills, get overview of North American HLI facilities and detailed knowledge of aluminum respective steel wheel technology. The program consisted of 8-months study period in U.S. and 4-months practical training in Dello, Italy (aluminium wheels) and Konigswinter, Germany (steel wheels).
The first 4 months the authors attended Access International Language School. The objective was to improve authors' language skills in order to pass the Test Of English as a Foreigner Language (TOEFL), which was one of the basic requirements for enrollment to the UM.
After gaining sufficient score on TOEFL examination, all participants became students of UM. The study program was based on UM offer and participants' interest. According to everyone's interest authors were accepted to two different departments: Department of Industrial and Operation Engineering and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The UM offers a wide range of courses. The authors decided to take both Undergraduate and Graduate courses in different departments as non-degree students.
During their stay in the U.S., authors took part in events organized by HLI. The most important and interesting one was two day visit to HLI facilities in Gainesville (Georgia), Somerset (Kentucky), Sedalia (Missouri) and Bowling Green (Kentucky) in December.
The final part of the HLI FETP took place in Dello, Italy and Konigswinter, Germany.
Students in the Czech Republic can participate in several types of programs. Some of them are TEMPUS, IASTEE, AISEC, Copernicus, and Company scholarship. Participation in those programs can increase their value on the job market. Having experience with TEMPUS, IASTEE and HLI (FETP), the authors would like to point out some of their advantages and disadvantages.
TEMPUS is an organization established by the European Union as a major instrument for the development and restructuring of higher education in Central and Eastern Europe. Students can participate in industrial companies' research programs in Western Europe. The programs usually take place in university facilities and last from 3 to 6 months.
Personal experiences:
Two of the authors spent several months at the colleges in Gent, Belgium and Middlesbrough, England. They were supposed to work on projects specified by the local TEMPUS coordinators. The projects were focused on problems assigned by local companies involved in the TEMPUS program. The projects were consulted with persons in the companies and the tutors provided day to day advise on the subjects.
Advantages:
Disadvantages
International Association for Exchanging Students for Technical Experience-IASTE is an organization, which allows students get working experiences on exchange bases. The students are assigned to work for company abroad. The length of the program varies from 6 weeks to 1 year. During this period students are working full time in the field which is usually similar to the student's subject of study.
Personal experiences:
One of the authors spent three months by working for Rautaruukki, Finland, which is the biggest steel manufacturer in Northern Europe. He was working in the Electrical department as a member of the team.
Advantages:
Disadvantages
The HLI FETP is the type of program where a company directly sponsors students obliged to work for the company for a certain period of time. The duration of the program fully depends on the sponsor's requirements and interests. The program can cover a wide range of activities from second language training through university education to practical training in sponsor's facilities.
Personal experiences:
All those activities above were the part of the authors' program. The educational part of the program took place in Ann Arbor, close to HLI Headquarter in the U.S., and the practical one in Italy and Germany.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
From mentioned above concludes that all the programs have some advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage of the TEMPUS and IASTE programs is insufficient communication among the company, the university and the participant. This is obviously caused by low interest of the each subject involved in it. The main advantage is usually the first participant's opportunity to work in an international environment by which he/she can get experience for a future job. The main objective of FETP is to focus on the field directly related to the future position in sponsor's company. Both the company and the participant can better benefits from FETP type of the program.
The education systems in the USA and in the Czech Republic are completely different. The university education in the USA is based mainly on individual financial sources. In the Czech Republic the universities are financed by the government, so the education is free. From these facts result some big differences in both students and faculty approach. The authors had an opportunity to study at both the TUO-Ostrava and University of Michigan (UM) in Ann Arbor. The following parts describe differences they experienced during their studies.
Students of UM usually study and do their teamwork in university libraries and other facilities. The libraries are equipped to fully satisfy all students' needs, such as computing equipment, books, and study rooms, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
TUO students do their study and assignments usually at home or in dormitories. The libraries, computer rooms and the university itself are open just during business hours. This situation cannot satisfy students' requirements who want to study during evening hours.
UM offers a wide range of subjects for undergraduate, graduate MA, Ph.D. and post-doctoral students. The students can choose subjects according to their type of study and interest. In each type of study it's about half electives and half required courses. The courses can be chosen from various study field. In order to graduate, students need to collect required number of credits. Students usually discuss their schedule with study advisor. After finishing undergraduate study, students can continue in graduate study in completely different field.
At TUO students from the same faculty have the same background courses (mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc.). In the Czech University education system, students can not choose the subjects, because there are determined by the student's department. Students apply for the study field to appropriate department in second year of study. Afterwards they have to follow the schedule and have a limited chance to change their subjects or study field. This conception of study is rigid and should be replaced by new, more efficient one.
Important part of study is an appropriative choosing of subjects. Each major requires certain number of credits and students just have to consider how many credits they have to obtain in each term. In the beginning of each term students can get familiar with scope of subjects by the brochures, billboards and free visiting at departments. This way they can obtain all important information and overview of each subject.
At present, it is really necessity for an engineer to be able to work as a productive member of a team. One of the objectives of the engineering curriculum is to let students get the basic skills that are required to be an effective team member. Each student is individual with his/her strength and weakness. Self-awareness of these characteristics is the first step towards becoming an effective member of a team.
UM students are required to build up the teams and do assignments together on a regular basis in order to develop the discipline and habits to routinely utilize these skills. The stress is placed especially on communication skills, which are the crucial ones in interaction with other team members. An engineer can succeed only if he/she will able to learn and develop all these skills in advance.
TUO students are supposed to work in teams in some subjects only. Having significant importance not only in industry, teamwork should become a standard approach in the education. Therefore, there should be more effort put into this area in the future.
At the first class of the term, the students are provided with a detailed schedule of the course, the study materials, requirements for grades, and the teacher assistant (TA) is also introduced. The TA, usually a senior or Ph.D. student, grades the assignments and can help the lecturer to prepare materials for the class.
The classes consist mostly of lectures and then also of case studies, role plays, and other interactive learning. During the term, the students get additional study materials, assignments and topics for required projects. The lecture is based on the assumption that the students are already familiar with the topic of the lecture. Being prepared, the students are able to discuss the topic with a professor much better. Then he/she can focus on the parts that are misunderstood or need to be clarified. This helps the students to be more deeply involved in the problem.
The university courses at TUO consist of two parts: the lecture and the practical part. The lecturer usually gives primarily the main core of a new topic during the class. The practical part exercises the knowledge from the lecture. The lecture is one-way communication when the lecturer provides information to students. There is usually small or none place for discussion at the end of the class. The main focus on discussion is in the practical part. In the lecture the students are not provided with hand out, so they spend almost all the time by writing notes. This approach is very time consuming and it decreases the effectiveness of the lecture. The time spent by writing notes could be used for detailed explanation of the problems or for discussions.
UM students are required to make and perform presentations very often. By doing this, they learn how to effectively explain their goals, what they have done and its implication. They become familiar with presentation equipment, learn how to manage stress, and finally become comfortable with presenting to big audience. In addition, there are many opportunities to get feed back from their professors and classmates so that they can build up valuable presenting skills necessary for today's engineers.
Students' presentations at the TUO are required in written form, which is part of assignments. The first real presentation in front of audience is the introduction of the final thesis.
For graduation from the UM, a certain number of credits are required. The length of the study is flexible and depends on the student's financial and study ability to reach required credits. After submitting all the required papers, assignments, projects and passing quizzes, the student is graded according to the predefined scale. Grading rules are clearly defined at the beginning of the term so each student can easily manage his or her grade. All exams are in the written form and taken either in the classroom or at home.
The following example describes grading for Project Management class at Department of Industrial and Operation Management:
|
Midterm Exam |
10% |
|
|
Final Exam |
20% |
|
|
Quizzes |
20% |
|
|
Team members Assessment of individuals |
10% |
|
|
Teamwork Assignments (Divided as Follows): |
40% |
|
|
First Team, Report Assignment |
10% |
|
|
Project Plan, Written Presentation |
15% |
|
|
Project Plan, Oral Presentation |
15% |
|
Grading is on straight scale (A=90-100, B=80-90, etc.)
The grades, stated on transcript, play important role in obtaining an attractive job.
Students at the TUO graduate by passing all required exams including the state exam and submitting and defending a final thesis. The exam consists of an oral part, which is usually preceded by a written part. To sign up for the exam, the students have to meet the practical requirements, such as assignments, attendance and quizzes. The exam covers the whole term of lecture topics. The students can schedule the exams themselves and the examination period is six weeks long. During this period students have tree attempts to pass their exams. Passing the exams is up to the lecturer assigns the grades.
The future of Engineering Education is based on the cooperation between industry and the universities. This cooperation should be built upon the sponsorship and partnership. FETP succeed only as an establishment of a partnership between the HLI company and the TUO. This paper is also a reassessment of the authors' experiences and ideas with several types of programs and education systems. From the authors' point of view, the university education system in the USA provides the students with both a very good quality education and with practical skills. Emphasis is placed on continuous and practical application of knowledge and skills. The Czech university system is traditionally focused more on acquiring the knowledge and information than on practical skills. Czech students are trained to be less independent, better able to work in teams than the American students. But their knowledge is general and they are more likely to solve problems unconventionally.
The authors would like to thanks HLI for the financial and other support in the FETP.