Final year projects with involvement of industry and high schools

In the final year of undergraduate degree programs in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at the University of South Australia (UniSA), students accomplish hands-on design projects that account for a quarter of the yearpsilas academic credit load. The majority of the projects, depending on a year - between 60% and 80% - are industry sponsored, i.e. industry defines the project specification and provides industry supervisor(s) and resources in cash and/or inkind contributions. This gives students an opportunity to develop links with industry and build up their skills, knowledge and industry-relevant practical experience in a specialised engineering field, facilitating their rapid industrial employment. Recently also high school students have been involved in these projects, as reported in the paper. The program has been successfully running for the past 3 years and proved to bring benefits to high school students, university students and also to companies that participate in the program.