Examining the Effectiveness of Industrial Partnerships in Capstone Courses: A Qualitative Study through the Lens of Engineering Undergraduates

Abstract Rapid changes in the global economy have necessitated the development of a workforce equipped with the skills to adapt and evolve to meet the demands of the modern workplace. In this context, universities are tasked with preparing and training students to be job-ready upon graduation. Yet, adequately preparing students for engineering careers beyond graduation remains challenging for all engineering institutions. Problem-solving skills are often regarded as one of the key characteristics of successful engineering graduates. Most engineering undergraduates are formally exposed to problem-solving during their senior capstone courses, where students learn how to tackle complex problems while applying their technical knowledge, alongside mastering other essential soft skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, and communication. However, there has been a shift to adopt a more authentic and experiential approach to implementing capstone courses in engineering education of late. Industrial partnerships effectively provide context-specific challenges that are not easily duplicated within an academic environment. Through collaborating with industry and encountering real-world challenges, students can put their theoretical knowledge into practice outside of classroom settings. Moreover, besides translating their technical skill sets, students are exposed to other non-technical aspects of engineering, such as how engineering decisions might be influenced by other factors such as business, ethics, and socioeconomics. A third-year engineering capstone course was recently transformed to incorporate real-world problem statements and industrial mentorship. For the 13-week semester, students worked in teams of six or seven people to solve a problem statement that a company had provided. This study explored how students viewed industrial partnerships in this capstone course. It specifically examined how it influenced their perception of problem-solving, consideration for ethics, and overall confidence as engineers. We used the stratified random sampling technique to select 16 participants, eight females and eight males, for this study. We employed an inductive qualitative analysis to identify important themes related to industrial partnerships that students perceived were critical in the capstone course. These findings may be insightful and imperative for educators when designing capstone courses for engineering undergraduates. Educational and theoretical implications were also further discussed in this study.