Design Challenge: the academics’ perspective

We asked two academic advocates of the Institution’s Design Challenge about the benefits it brings to the development of their engineering undergraduates.

For the second year running, Coventry University fielded a successful team through the regional heats to the national final of the Design Challenge, which was held at IMeche's headquarters at One Birdcage Walk. 

All 400 of its first-year engineering students engage in the challenge and the engineering department has, for some years, embedded the concept of activity-led learning and professional practice into its curriculum.  As Associate Head of Coventry University’s School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Automotive Engineering, Patricia Ashman finds the projects fit in seamlessly to the degree curriculum, as the university’s degrees are fully accredited by the Institution.

As lead of the ‘Design Engineering Projects 1’ unit at Bournemouth University, Professor Zulfiqar Khan has integrated the Design Challenge into the syllabus through assessed course work finding that the stimulating projects that it sets facilitate wider practical engineering experience. The value to students is seen in the promotion of research-informed education to solve real-world problems, as well as inspiring undergraduates to collaborate with industry and professional institutions.

Coventry University team at the Design Challenge finals, October 2017

Patricia explained how students benefit from enhancing and supporting their classroom-led learning with a simulated work environment:

“The value to our students is enormous. Participating in the challenge enables them to put to creative use the academic knowledge they have been studying in areas such as mechanical science, electrical engineering and design theory, as well as utilising the workshops skills they have been acquiring.”

Bournemouth University's 2017 entry at Finals day

According to Zulfiqar, the fusion of research, education and professional practice is at the heart of Bournemouth University’s strategic plan. He considers the students’ gains to be threefold:

• A full understanding of solving real world problems by linking theory and practice
• Developing communication, networking and presentation skills
• The students’ overall learning and teaching experience is enhanced through a creative, sharing and inspiring environment.

He praised the quality of students’ work and the working prototypes they produce as design solutions, saying: 

“Their enthusiasm and commitment to producing competitive solutions is impressive. The professionalism and management skills that they are showing as first-year undergraduate students, thanks to the requirements of the Design Challenge, are equally high.”

“The students really rise to the challenge, says Patricia. “We have over 40 teams competing against one another, and am always staggered by the uniqueness of the design solutions, materials used, control mechanisms and how well the students have interpreted the specifications. It creates one of the outstanding experiences of the students’ first years.”

This year’s participants from Coventry enjoyed it so much that they are keen to enter the second-year challenge voluntarily; the university is looking into how it can embed the second-year challenge into the curriculum. 

Both Patricia and Zulfiqar agree that one of the most important benefits of the Design Challenge is the opportunity for young engineers to get their first real-world experience as professional engineers, helping them quickly gain confidence in their growing abilities. Extending their range of skills, fulfilling a specific design brief and making contact with industry figures also inspires them as they focus on their goals of becoming chartered engineers.

Patricia Ashman is Associate Head of Coventry University’s School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Automotive Engineering and a senior lecturer in mechanical analysis. She is also an academic lead for the university’s Design Challenge entrants. Zulfiqar Khan, Professor of Design, Engineering and Computing at Bournemouth University, is championing the fusion of research, education and professional practice which is exemplified by the Design Challenge.

Find out more about the Design Challenge and the benefits of participating for teams, universities and industry.