Introducing Innovation in Mechanical Engineering Education: The Project of the Engineering for Industry Faculty of the Politecnico Di Milano

Abstract

The situation of Italian Engineering Studies and the needs for innovation are briefly presented. In a first step for implementing innovation an investigation has been performed by the Mechanical Engineering Course (MEC) of Politecnico di Milano, the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, and Assolombarda (board of industrial enterprises of Lombardia) interviewing mechanical engineers mainly graduated at the Politecnico with some years working experience in any professional environment, asking to define the learning outcomes (Los) which have been felt as sufficiently or insufficiently developed during the academic learning process. Additional steps will be furnished during the devolvement of the European Commission funded ECCE project, which aims at establishing an "Engineering Observatory on Competences Based Curricula for Job Enhancement". Not only actual but also future expectations will this way also be included in the database from which future engineering programmes will be developed at the Politecnico di Milano, particularly in the Mechanical Engineering Course of the Engineering for Industry faculty.