Design and Problem Oriented Education based on the Application of Knowledge – Developing Chalmers' Master’s Programme in Production Engineering

Paper in proceeding, 2011

Solving real industrial problems will doubtlessly, more than ever before, be a question of transferring well-founded scientific theory into sustainable practice. A major success factor is the training of future professional engineers to achieve appropriate skills for such transfer. Furthermore, to succeed with high quality training under considerable economic constraints, while simultaneously meeting the students' demand for highly customized curricula, is indeed challenging. This paper describes Chalmers' Master’s Programme in Production Engineering (MPPEN), a theoretically high-levelled and industrially relevant education for future industrial experts, fulfilling the requirements of the Bologna declaration. At this point, MPPEN has been running for three years and evaluations show that the students are highly satisfied with the programme. However, experiences, in combination with a desire to obtain a stronger focus on occupational alignment, have lead to a recent improvement process. This paper identifies design factors for future successful production education and reports how MPPEN has adapted to these requirements by reorganising courses, programme architecture, and course plans. MPPEN is an important part of the Chalmers Production Area of Advance and the programme is responsible for educating production engineers, developing and managing manufacturing processes and production systems, using a holistic view and sustainability thinking.