Capstone design projects in the environment of weak industry-academia interaction

Accreditation requirements for a major design experience that prepares the students for engineering practice are normally satisfied through capstone projects originating from and sponsored by the local industry. This is difficult to be satisfied in an environment of weak industry academia interaction. In this case the projects are coming from academically oriented faculty members with limited industrial experience resulting in research type projects. The present work describes a process implemented to ensure that capstone projects satisfy the requirements for a major design experience. The method also facilitates using capstone design in assessing several student outcomes by the time of graduation.