Interdisciplinary programs evaluation methods: a review of literature and a model proposal for intensive projects involving academia and industry

Abstract

The technological evolution occurred in the last twenty years led organizations to a different global business environment requiring them to be increasingly effective and competitive, implying changes in the way they work. The new paradigm focuses on interdisciplinary team work and so it is required from engineering graduates to have higher levels of transversal competences, like interpersonal communication and team work skills as well as to be able to solve complex engineering problems, in some situations involving areas outside engineers’ common initial training. These changes have clear implications in engineering education and in order to improve engineering education curricula, initiatives like multi and interdisciplinary programs have been implemented in Engineering Schools, with aim to improve the interaction between academia and business companies with win‐win relations. Some of these projects are intensively developed during a short period of time, at the company’s facilities. Along with these initiatives emerges the need to evaluate them. According to the literature, there is a lack of systematic evaluation systems of these projects, so the aim of the paper is to suggest an approach to evaluate interdisciplinary intensive projects, focusing on the competences required by the organizations and considering projects’ stakeholders – participants, tutors, company representatives and educational institutions. The methodology used is based on a literature review of topics related to Project‐Based Learning, aiming to develop a systematic evaluation method that will involve the following dimensions: required outcomes for the participants, competences assessment methods and benefits for stakeholders who participate.