Open Ended Design Projects: A Necessity in Engineering Education

within the context of outcome-based engineering education program, the role of open-ended design in developing engineering design skills is discussed. In particular, the importance of the ability in identification and assessment of “need” and corresponding “problem definition” in the design process is explored. It is shown that only with the open-ended design projects will the engineering students get a chance of gaining first-hand experience with the need analysis of real-life engineering problems and societal challenges. The potential of leveraging the open-ended design projects for developing entrepreneurial skill in engineering students is discussed. Examples of success stories in turning engineering final-year open-ended design project to successful start-up companies are presented.