Track: Engineering Education

Abstract

Globalization of industry and the recent advances in technology in all sectors of industry, indicate that higher academic institutions and the commercial engineering sector of industry should have strong collaboration if the US is to remain competitive and be able to innovate efficiently in the global marketplace. This paper will examine whether fresh university graduates are learning the right skills at university in preparation for their future commercial careers, something which many industry executives felt was not the case. Industry executives suggest a greater collaboration is needed between academia and industries such as aerospace, automotive manufacturing, medicine and IT is needed to prepare students for the real world challenges of a commercial career. This paper examines the challenges that face both industry and academia and how to Lawrence Technological University (LTU) have succeeded in implementing a curriculum that addresses the continually changing and growing specific needs of industry where LTU graduates are highly perceived in industry today as “Agile and Readily Employable graduates”.