<p>  </p> <p>Clustering, a prevalent class of machine learning (ML) algorithms used in data mining and pattern-finding—has increasingly helped engineering education researchers and educators see and understand assessment patterns at scale. However, a challenge remains to make ML-enabled educational inferences that are useful and reliable for research or instruction, especially if those inferences influence pedagogical decisions or student outcomes. ML offers an opportunity to better personalizing learners’ experiences using those inferences, even within large engineering classrooms. However, neglecting to verify the trustworthiness of ML-derived inferences can have wide-ranging negative impacts on the lives of learners. </p> <p><br></p> <p>This study investigated what student clusters exist within the standard operational data of a large first-year engineering course (>1500 students). This course focuses on computational thinking skills for engineering design. The clustering data set included approximately 500,000 assessment data points using a consistent five-scale criterion-based grading framework. Two clustering techniques—N-TARP profiling and K-means clustering—examined criterion-based assessment data and identified student cluster sets. N-TARP profiling is an expansion of the N-TARP binary clustering method. N-TARP is well suited to this course’s assessment data because of the large and potentially high-dimensional nature of the data set. K-means clustering is one of the oldest and most widely used clustering methods in educational research, making it a good candidate for comparison. After finding clusters, their interpretability and trustworthiness were determined. The following research questions provided the structure for this study: RQ1 – What student clusters do N-TARP profiling and K-means clustering identify when applied to structured assessment data from a large engineering course? RQ2 – What are the characteristics of an average student in each cluster? and How well does the average student in each cluster represent the students of that cluster? And RQ3 – What are the strengths and limitations of using N-TARP and K-means clustering techniques with large, highly structured engineering course assessment data?</p> <p><br></p> <p>Although both K-means clustering and N-TARP profiling did identify potential student clusters, the clusters of neither method were verifiable or replicable. Such dubious results suggest that a better interpretation is that all student performance data from this course exist in a single homogeneous cluster. This study further demonstrated the utility and precision of N-TARP’s warning that the clustering results within this educational data set were not trustworthy (by using its W value). Providing this warning is rare among the thousands of available clustering methods; most clustering methods (including K-means) will return clusters regardless. When a clustering algorithm identifies false clusters that lack meaningful separation or differences, incorrect or harmful educational inferences can result. </p>

<p dir="ltr">Women are underrepresented in science, technology engineering and math (STEM) careers. This is particularly detrimental within the space of engineering and technology where the women can provide unique perspectives about design. People are more likely to choose careers in which they feel confident in their abilities. Therefore, this study examined the experiences of girls in high school engineering and technology programs who were in the process of making decisions about their future careers. It explored how their classroom experiences were related to the development of their self-efficacy in engineering. This study addressed the research question: How and in what ways do the classroom experiences of female secondary students during a co- robotics assistive technology project relate to their changes in engineering self-efficacy? This question was addressed through qualitative case study research. Data were collected through observation, focus group interviews, and review of design journals kept by the participants. The data were coded, and themes were developed as guided by Bandura’s four sources of self-efficacy. Findings from this study indicated that the high school girls relied in varying amounts on different sources of self-efficacy based on their initial self-efficacy, their interactions with their teammates during group work, and connections they made between the content and applications in their lives outside of the classroom. The girls in the study had improved or maintained self-efficacy because they were able to achieve their desired outcomes in the projects. Relatedly frustrations that the girls faced along the way were not detrimental because they ultimately achieved success. Positive experiences with teammates supported the girls’ self-efficacy development, and negative experiences deterred self-efficacy. Finally, when the girls made connections between the content they were learning and applications that held value for them, they were more motivated to engage in experiences that supported the development of their self-efficacy.</p>

Engineering education is both academic, emphasising theory in a range of subjects, and professional, preparing students for engineering practice. Ideally, these aspects are also in a meaningful relationship in the curriculum, but the dual nature ideal is simultaneously a source of tensions. This theme is explored in the context of engineering education development, represented by the CDIO (Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate) approach. Cases on programme and course level illustrate how the dual nature ideal is pursued in the integrated curriculum. CDIO is also compared with PBL (problem/project-based learning), and opportunities to further emphasise research in the CDIO community are explored. Two critical accounts suggest widening the perspective from curriculum development per se, to the organisational conditions. First, the views of Carl Richard Söderberg (1895-1979) are compared with CDIO, showing considerable similarities in ideals, arguments, and strategies. This leads to a critique of the swinging pendulum metaphor. Then, experiences of unsustainable change leads to a model called organisational gravity, explaining the stability of programmes and implying two change strategies, with different availability, risks, resource demands, and sustainability of results. Refuting a rationalist view on organisation, an institutional logics perspective is used to analyse the tensions within engineering education. It is suggested that the logics of the academic profession dominates over the logics of the engineering profession, hence favouring “teaching theory” over “teaching professionals”. The integrated curriculum strategy is contingent on educators’ ability to unite theoretical and professional aspects in courses, and on the collegial capacity for coordination. Finally, the CDIO initiative is conceptualised as a field-level driver of institutional innovation, identifying some strategies for legitimacy. / <p>QC 20171108</p>

A recurring question in science and engineering education is why the students do not link knowledge from theoretical classes to the real world met in laboratory courses. Mathematical models and visualisations are widely used in engineering and engineering education. Very often it is assumed that the students are familiar with the mathematical concepts used. These may be concepts taught in high school or at university level. One problem, though, is that many students have never or seldom applied their mathematical skills in other subjects, and it may be difficult for them to use their skills in a new context. Some concepts also seem to be "too difficult" to understand. One of these mathematical tools is to use Laplace Transforms to solve differential equations, and to use the derived functions to visualise transient responses in electric circuits, or control engineering. In many engineering programs at college level the application of the Laplace Transform is considered too difficult for the students to understand, but is it really, or does it depend on the teaching methods used? When applying mathematical concepts during lab work, and not teaching the mathematics and practical work in different sessions, and also using examples varied in a very systematic way, our research shows that the students approach the problem in a very different way. It shows that by developing tasks consequently according to the Theory of Variation, it is not impossible to apply the Laplace Transform already in the first year of an engineering program. The original aim of this thesis was to show: how students work with lab-tasks, especially concerning the goal to link theory to the real world how it is possible to change the ways students approach the task and thus their learning, by systematic changes in the lab-instructions During the spring 2002 students were video-recorded while working with labs in Electric Circuits. Their activity was analysed. Special focus was on what questions the students raised, and in what ways these questions were answered, and in what ways the answers were used in the further activities. This work informed the model ”learning of a complex concept”, which was used as well to analyse what students do during lab-work, and what teachers intend their students to learn. The model made it possible to see what changes in the lab-instructions that would facilitate students learning of the whole, to link theoretical models to the real world, through the labactivities. The aim of the thesis has thus become to develop a model: The learning of a complex concept show how this model can be used as well for analysis of the intended object of learning as students activities during lab-work, and thus the lived object of learning use the model in analysis of what changes in instruction that are critical for student learning. The model was used to change the instructions. The teacher interventions were included into the instructions in a systematic way, according to as well what questions that were raised by the students, as what questions that were not noticed, but expected by the teachers, as a means to form relations between theoretical aspects and measurement results. Also, problem solving sessions have been integrated into the lab sessions. Video recordings were also conducted during the spring 2003, when the new instructions were used. The students' activities were again analysed. A special focus of the thesis concerns the differences between the results from 2002 and 2003. The results are presented in four sections: Analysis of the students' questions and the teachers' answers during the lab-course 2002 Analysis of the links students need to make, the critical links for learning Analysis of the task structure before and after changes Analysis of the students' activities during the new course The thesis ends with a discussion of the conclusions which may be drawn about the possibilities to model and develop teaching sequences through research, especially concerning the aim to link theoretical models to the real world. / En stående fråga som lärare i naturvetenskapliga och tekniska utbildningar ställer är varför elever och studenter inte kopplar samman kunskaper från teoretiska kursmoment med den verklighet som möts vid laborationerna. Ett vanligt syfte med laborationer är att åstadkomma länkar mellan teori och verklighet, men dessa uteblir ofta. Många gånger används avancerade matematiska modeller och grafiska representationer, vilka studenterna lärt sig i tidigare kurser, men de har sällan eller aldrig tillämpat dessa kunskaper i andra ämnen. En av dessa matematiska hjälpmedel är Laplacetransformen, som främst används för att lösa differentialekvationer, och åskådliggöra transienta förlopp i ellära eller reglerteknik. På många universitet anses Laplacetransformen numera för svår för studenterna på kortare ingenjörsutbildningar, och kurser eller kursmoment som kräver denna har strukits ut utbildningsplanerna. Men, är det för svårt, eller beror det bara på hur man presenterar Laplacetransformen? Genom att låta studenterna arbeta parallellt med matematiken och de laborativa momenten, under kombinerade lab-lektionspass, och inte vid separata lektioner och laborationer, samt genom att variera övningsexemplen på ett mycket systematiskt sätt, enligt variationsteorin, visar vår forskning att studenterna arbetar med uppgifterna på ett helt annat sätt än tidigare. Det visar sig inte längre vara omöjligt att tillämpa Laplacetransformen redan under första året på civilingenjörsutbildning inom elektroteknik. Ursprungliga syftet med avhandlingen var att visa hur studenter arbetar med laborationsuppgifter, speciellt i relation till målet att länka samman teori och verklighet hur man kan förändra studenternas aktivitet, och därmed studenternas lärande, genom att förändra laborationsinstruktionen på ett systematiskt sätt. Under våren 2002 videofilmades studenter som utförde laborationer i en kurs i elkretsteori. Deras aktivitet analyserades. Speciellt studerades vilka frågor studenterna ställde till lärarna, på vilket sätt dessa frågor besvarades, och på vilket sätt svaren användes i den fortsatta aktiviteten. Detta ledde fram till en modell för lärande av sammansatta begrepp, som kunde användas både för att analysera vad studenterna gör och vad lärarna förväntar sig att studenterna ska lära sig. Med hjälp av modellen blev det då möjligt att se vad som behövde ändra i instruktionerna för att studenterna lättare skulle kunna utföra de aktiviteter som krävs för att länka teori och verklighet. Syftet med avhandlingen är därmed att ta fram en modell för lärande av ett sammansatt begrepp visa hur denna modell kan användas för såväl analys av önskat lärandeobjekt, som av studenternas aktivitet under laborationer, och därmed det upplevda lärandeobjektet använda modellen för att analysera vilka förändringar som är kritiska för  studenters lärande. Modellen användes för att förändra laborationsinstruktionerna. Lärarinterventionerna inkluderades i instruktionerna på ett systematiskt sätt utifrån dels vilka frågor som ställdes av studenterna, dels vilka frågor studenterna inte noterade, men som lärarna velat att studenterna skulle använda för att skapa relationer framför allt mellan teoretiska aspekter och mätresultat. Dessutom integrerades räkneövningar och laborationer. Videoinspelningar utfördes även våren 2003, då de nya instruktionerna användes. Även dessa analyserades med avseende på studenternas aktiviteter. Skillnader mellan resultaten från 2002 och 2003 står i fokus. Avhandlingens resultatdel består av: Analys av studenternas frågor och lärarnas svar under labkursen 2002 Analys av de länkar studenterna behöver skapa för att lära Analys av laborationsinstruktionerna före och efter förändringarna Analys av den laborationsaktivitet som blev resultatet av de nya instruktionerna, och vilket lärande som då blev möjligt Avhandlingen avlutas med en diskussion om de slutsatser som kan dras angående möjligheter att via forskning utveckla modeller av undervisningssekvenser för lärande där målet är att länka samman teori och verklighet

<p>  </p> <p>Faculty are the primary designers and implementers of engineering curricula within the U.S. higher education system. This places them in a unique position to respond to decades of national calls for curricular change in undergraduate engineering education. Individual and institutional faculty efforts to respond to these calls are inevitably influenced by faculty ontologies of curricular change – in other words, what faculty understand curricular change to be. By ‘ontology,’ I mean what is or what they perceive as what is. Ontologies are agentic, meaning that ontological assumptions shape how faculty envision their own roles and thereby influence the sorts of curricular change actions they envision and legitimize for themselves.</p> <p>Faculty ontologies of curricular change and their roles therein are complex roles within complex phenomena. By interrogating these ontologies, I make-visible the ways faculty might view – and thereby shape – the curricular worlds they and their students inhabit. To use a theatrical analogy: how do faculty stage their narratives of curricular change – what kinds of worlds do they set up in their stories? What kinds of interactions do they allow within that world? What kinds of characters do they cast themselves and others as playing?</p> <p>To investigate faculty ontologies of curricular change, I analyzed the narratives they told about several curricular change projects they had been personally involved with. I gathered narrative data by conducting recurring interviews with six faculty narrators. I deconstructed the resulting narrative data corpus using a postmodern approach focused on tensions and contradictions. The resulting analysis generated four distinct and interrelated ontologies for curricular change. These four ontologies are presented as a starting point rather than an exhaustive catalogue, since infinitely many ontologies could be generated. Each of the four ontologies created for this work portrays faculty roles in curricular change in relation to both curriculum and students. Creating multiple ontologies then enabled me to show how the interaction of multiple ontologies can create insights that are not apparent from each ontology alone. Among other things, the interactions of all four ontologies form a complex portrait of faculty as learners who are always unmaking and remaking themselves in the context of curricular change.</p> <p>By constructing a collective memory of faculty ontologies, I work to interrogate and disrupt current conceptions of roles and relationships in curricular change. These ontologies, and the methods developed to pursue and play with them, serve as tools for “cutting meaning loose” and “keep[ing] difference… at play” (Jackson & Mazzei, 2012, p. 70-71). In turn, these tools open up a wider space of new ideas and possibilities for courses, pedagogies, and cultures to be expressed, evaluated, and legitimized.</p>

<p>  </p> <p>In order to comprehend complex and abstract phenomena, students must partake in the process of learning by integrating complex and invisible components without ever physically encountering or manipulating such components. Prior knowledge and experiences will influence the way students assimilate and model new experiences and knowledge. If prior knowledge possesses a degree of non-normative conceptions, students' understanding of abstract phenomena may diverge dramatically from accepted scientific explanations. Embodied cognition proposes that learning about natural phenomena can develop from information gained via interactions between the body and the physical environment. Multimodal experiences can shape students' conceptual understanding of abstract phenomena.</p> <p>Incorporating technology tools to explore science concepts is a trend utilized to give high-quality education. The use of physical and virtual manipulation tools in science instruction has favored the improvement of modeling science phenomena in general. Visuohaptic simulations are also learning manipulatives that blend physical and virtual manipulation affordances as a unison experience. </p> <p>The current dissertation proposed the implementation of a learning experience where students engage in experimentation with a visuo-haptic simulation to explore and model reaction forces on truss structures. The study examined undergraduate students’ conceptual understanding, graphical representations, and the modeling refinement process of reaction forces on truss structures before, during, and after engaging with visuo-haptic simulation on truss structures using different modalities. A design-based research methodology was implemented to design, explore, and refine a learning experience with a visuo-haptic simulation of truss structures through two research phases. The learning experience occurred as a laboratory activity in a statics course at a Midwest university.</p> <p>The first phase of this dissertation investigated students' conceptual understanding and graphical representations of reactive forces on a complex truss structure by interacting with a visuo-haptic simulation of truss structures. Students participated in two treatment groups: visuo-haptic exposure and visual-only exposure. The results of the first phase suggested that students that engaged with the visuo-haptic simulation using different modalities improved their conceptual understanding of truss structures significantly. Moreover, students exposed to haptic feedback significantly improved their graphical representations on tasks where the haptic feedback was involved. </p> <p>The second phase of the current dissertation examined students’ developing models of reactive forces on a truss structure before, during, and after engaging with a visuo-haptic simulation of truss structures. Students participated in two sequential treatment groups: visual to visuo-haptic and haptic to visuo-haptic. The quantitative results suggest that both treatment groups performed significantly better in their model representations after being exposed to the learning experience but show no difference across treatment groups. The qualitative results suggest that the visual to visuo-haptic group interpreted their experiences much more coherently, leading to a more sophisticated version of their model of reaction forces on truss structures. </p>

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The popularity of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has grown rapidly within the construction industry, motivated by its potential advantages for improving construction processes. A majority of the world’s leading firms have adopted BIM solutions by moving from 2D or even 3D CAD to BIM techniques. However, for companies in South Africa this transition has not been the same as for firms in Europe and the USA. Besides the improvements which can be achieved by viewing a computer model of the designed facility, BIM provides a multi-disciplinary tool, to be used for collaboration of all project parties in a real-time simulated model of construction process. Due to this remarkable feature, the way of constructing a designed facility can be viewed and analysed from the conceptual stages and can improve design and construction processes. As this object-oriented approach has been developed in the industry, handbooks and standards have been released to support BIM utilization. A considerable amount of research has been conducted to establish the advantages and barriers in applying BIM. A large number of investigations have also been performed for reporting quantified achievement of construction projects executed in BIM environment. As such, a new knowledge field has been added to the industry requirements. BIM knowledge has become more demanding and BIM-specialist requirements have been enhanced. As a result, academia have been stimulated to raise BIM awareness among engineers, architects and construction managers to train sufficiently qualified professionals for applying BIM tools. Universities started offering different courses and programmes to fulfil this need while a variety of strategies have been developed for introducing BIM to the students at different levels. This research studied the current industry situation in South Africa regarding application of BIM and the role of universities to achieve a suitable level of BIM capability. The industrial and educational situations from some pioneering countries are reviewed as lessons for the South African adoption of BIM. Comparing these facts, proposals for introducing BIM through university courses are provided to satisfy industry requirements for the application of BIM in projects. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die gewildheid van Bou Inligtingsmodelle (Building Information Modelling (BIM)) het vinnig gegroei in die konstruksie bedryf as gevolg van die voordele wat dit vir die verbetering van konstruksieprosesse inhou. ʼn Groot aantal van die wêreld se voorste konstruksie maatskappye het al die oorgang vanaf 2D en selfs 3D RGT (Rekenaar Gesteunde Tekenstelsels) na BIM gemaak. Ongelukkig is hierdie oorgang na BIM metodes nog nie so doeltreffend vir maatskappye in Suid- Afrika soos in die geval van Europese en Amerikaanse maatskappye nie. Daar is al bewys dat die vermoë om na ʼn rekenaarmodel van ʼn ontwerpte fasiliteit te kan kyk baie voordelig is. Daarbenewens bied BIM ʼn multidissiplinêre grondslag wat vir die samewerking van alle betrokke partye van die projek gebruik kan word en die projek kan simuleer as ʼn funksie van tyd. Hierdie tyd-afhanklike simulasie stel die bestuur in staat om die manier waarop ʼn ontwerpte fasiliteit gebou word, reeds vanaf die konsepsuele fase, te beskou en te ontleed. Hierdie vermoë kan die ontwerp en konstruksieproses asook die fasiliteitsbestuur proses merkwaardig verbeter. As gevolg van die ontwikkeling van hierdie objek georiënteerde benadering deur die bedryf, is handboeke en standaarde vrygestel om die gebruik van BIM te ondersteun. ‘n Merkwaardige hoeveelheid navorsing is al gedoen om die voordele en struikelblokke in die toepassing van BIM te identifiseer. ‘n Groot aantal ondersoeke is ook al geloots om verslag te doen op die prestasie van konstruksie projekte wat deur middel van BIM uitgevoer was. Vanuit die bogenoemde ondersoeke en navorsing is 'n nuwe kennisveld gevoeg by die vereistes van die bedryf. Die kennis van BIM het al hoe meer veeleisend geword en die vereistes vir ʼn BIMspesialis het verhoog. As gevolg hiervan is akademici aangemoedig om ingenieurs, argitekte en konstruksie bestuurders meer bewus te maak van BIM sodat daar genoeg professionele werkers opgelei kan word wat BIM kan implementeer. Universiteite het begin om kursusse en programme aan te bied om hierdie behoefte te bevredig, terwyl 'n verskeidenheid metodes om studente bloot te stel aan BIM op verskillende vlakke ontwikkel is. In hierdie navorsingsprojek is die huidige stand van Suid-Afrikaanse konstruksiemaatskappye ten opsigte van die toepassing van BIM ondersoek. Daarbenewens is die rol wat universiteite speel om 'n voldoende vlak van BIM vaardigheid te bereik ook ondersoek. Die industriële en opvoedkundige omgewings van 'n paar vooraanstaande lande word gebruik as lesse vir die Suid-Afrikaanse aanvaarding van BIM. Deur hierdie feite te vergelyk, is voorstelle gemaak vir die bekendstelling van BIM in universiteitskursusse om aan industrievereistes te voldoen vir die toepassing van BIM op projekte.

<p>The academic subject of mechatronics has been definedpreviously in numerous publications. This study aims atanalyzing mechatronics by using categories developed within theeducational science of Didactics. The result of the analysis,that relies on data from mechatronics education at KTH andother universities, shows that the identity of mechatronics canbe described as thematic, and the legitimacy as functional,which gives implications for the questions of communication andselection: what should be taught, and how. This is combinedwith a study of the evolution of the subject of mechatronics,where it is possible to see the gradually changing identity,from a combination of a number of disciplinary subjects to onethematic subject.</p><p>The first part of the thesis concludes that mechatronics isautonomous, thematic and functional. Teaching and learningmechatronics according to the identity and legitimacy of thesubject benefits from collaborative, experimental andinternational settings. The functional legitimacy todayrequires the collaborative and the international setting,meaning that the mechatronics employer requires these skillswhen employing a mechatronic engineer. Further, an exemplifyingselection requires the experimental setting, in particular whencomparing a representative selection with the reproduction ofknowledge, and an exemplifying selection with the creation ofknowledge.</p><p>To conclude, there are a number of important aspects to takeinto account when teaching and learning mechatronics. Three ofthese aspects, collaborative, experimental and internationalare suggested as important, and also a direct consequence ofthe identity of mechatronics. This thesis shows that thesethree aspects are indeed possible to integrate intomechatronics education, which will benefit greatly fromthis.</p> / QC 20100609

The number of students entering higher education has grown considerably during the last decade. High student numbers and the attendant large class sizes present significant challenges for teachers. Such challenges include knowing how to ensure students are engaging in appropriate out-of-class activity, how to provide prompt and personalised feedback and how to establish what students know and what they don't. If these challenges are left un-resolved the students' learning will not be well supported. This could ultimately lead to students failing modules. This research presents a response to the growth of the student population and was prompted by a high failure rate in a core first year engineering module. The large numbers of students enrolled on the module presented exactly the kinds of challenges noted above, and the existing assessment regime did little to motivate student learning. The response presented in this thesis is the design, development, testing, implementation and evaluation of a new assessment programme; an approach to assessment that provides students with unique weekly tasks. The tasks were formally assessed and contributed towards the students' marks for the module. To ensure the viability of the assessment programme, bespoke computer tools were developed to create, collect and mark the tasks, and to provide feedback to the students. The implementation has been evaluated through an exploration of the impact of the assessment programme on student support, teaching and student learning. In three of the four years where the students were exposed to the assessment programme, the failure rate on the module decreased. The reduction in failure rate is arguably associated with the alignment of the assessment programme with good pedagogy. During the implementation of the assessment programme, the students were engaging in appropriate out-of-class activity in relation to the current topic area. The students had an opportunity to engage in dialogue with their peers and were receiving prompt and regular feedback. The teachers also benefited, since they were able to prepare lectures according to the students' level of demonstrable understanding. In the case where the failure rate did not improve, the students themselves suggested they were downloading and using worked solutions to the problems from the internet. It is suggested that such activity neither provides meaningful opportunity to practise, nor alerts the students to their genuine levels of understanding of the topic areas. In this case the students were following solution procedures rather than developing their own. Student feedback on the assessment has been positive, with many noting how being led to engage with their studies was useful. Somewhat concerning was the feedback from students who noted &quot;they thought the work would help them with their examinations&quot;, &quot;they wanted the assessment programme used on other modules&quot; and yet many indicated &quot;they would not have engaged with the activity if it did not count towards the module grade&quot;.

This thesis reports a research study to measure the impact of industrial sponsorship on student, academia, and industry. The thesis provides a review of the literature in the field of engineering education, university-industry collaboration and student sponsorship. It describes the design of the study and methods of data collection and data analysis. It then presents a discussion of the impact of sponsorship. The research project was conducted at Loughborough University from 2006-2009. It has captured existing practice across sponsored and non-sponsored programmes within the Engineering Faculty at Loughborough University together with a small number of national and international sponsorship schemes. Data were collected from the undergraduate engineering students, graduates, sponsoring/non sponsoring companies, and the academic staff of engineering departments using questionnaires, interviews and documentary analysis. This study highlights the values and issues of the relationship between employers and students during their undergraduate study from the perspective of students, employers and academic staff. It takes a mixed-method approach to assess the attitudes and perception of individuals from these parties and identify the barriers which limit further engagement in order to propose guidelines for further improvements. The results show that the majority of the stakeholders valued industrial sponsorship as a way of developing the quality of undergraduate degrees and generating enough of the high quality engineers that the industry needs. There was close agreement on these matters between the parties involved. Overall the findings of the research showed that the parties main expectations of sponsorship schemes were largely met by the reality of sponsorship. Greater awareness of the details of sponsorship schemes, including how they work and what is involved, would make employers more likely to offer sponsorship and encourage more students to apply for sponsorship. Conclusions are drawn on the benefits that sponsorship offers, the incentives for these stakeholders, the role of sponsorship in building a relationship between students and their future employers, its contribution to the attainment of learning outcomes, the degree of sponsorship attractiveness to the investigated companies, the obstructions which limit partnership and recommendations for further developments.