Engineering university-industry projects: A design for six sigma framework

As the world´s economy becomes global, graduate workforce readiness is increasingly necessary. There has been a gradual shift in industry expectations of graduates from exhibiting academic expertise in a chosen discipline to a commercially adroit candidate with a strong command of, and immediate ability to apply, a broad range of skills deemed essential in the workplace [1]. With the globalization of technology and the rapid changes in the way companies do business, it is becoming imperative that graduates start performing and processing from their first day on the job [2]. Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is an approach that can be helpful in pushing towards better-prepared graduates for the workforce. This study aims to use current student project work to analyze preparedness, particularly in terms of students´ abilities to organize and communicate their thoughts. Preliminary findings show that more needs to be done in institutions of higher education to align the process of executing projects in universities with what is widely employed in industry.