Patterns and Challenges of Undergraduate Project Work in Germany: The Aachen Experience

In this report, experiences are described which have been gained at the University of Technology, Aachen, in offering interdisciplinary, ‘real-life’ study projects (Studienarbeiten) to engineering undergraduates. The approach at this university is based on the regulation that every engineering student has to do two different study projects before starting on the Master research project (Diplomarbeit). The study projects described here are genuinely linked to the professional roles and tasks of engineers today. At the same time, they follow as much as possible the individual aims and areas of interests of the students involved.     

Creativity at the Borders of Engineering: Three Personal Accounts

This paper deals with developing engineering creativity outside university education. Three personal accounts are reported here as the main content of this paper. They describe how young people wanted to fulfil their visions of creating unique artefacts in a very wide sense, and what engineering skills they had to develop on their own to achieve their goals. Professional engineers have assisted them in their striving without really being able to offer them, at that time, ready-made solutions. In this sense, the personal goals of these three people surpassed the present engineering experiences and they posed as yet insoluble problems to the profession. The personal accounts of these three people are presented here, to be followed by some brief conclusions for engineering education.