Real-world engineering projects for international student teams to become ”global engineers”

Abstract

Engineers in Europe and in USA play prominent roles in technology development for their respective societies, but there are differences in their carrier development and their future role in society depending on country and culture. We can expect that in the future, engineers work globally and change their place of residence, which means that international companies need engineers who understand the issue of working with other cultures and have worked in real world global with teammates and partners from other cultures and countries. Engineering programs in many universities include following elements in their syllabuses in order to train students as”global engineers”: • knowledge of languages and cultural skills, • teamwork and group dynamics in international teams, • knowledge of the business and engineering cultures in different countries, • knowledge of international variations in engineering education and practice. Joint students' projects (from Purdue University in USA and Technical University of Denmark in Denmark) were established to ensure acquisition of these skills and capabilities through out common real-world projects provided by industrial companies. In this paper, we describe our experiences with three industrial projects performed by students from America and Denmark during which the students dealt with international standards, adapted to working with a different culture, and applied effective project management tools. As part of these projects, the Danish students visit Purdue University early in the projects while American students went to Denmark at the end of the projects in order to present the results of their work for the companies involved. The first face-to-face visit is absolutely crucial for the development of common goals in the project, as well as in order to establish the proper communication during the entire project work. The visit is always planned in cooperation with the American team as they are the host and provide both housing and activities for the stay of Danish students. Danish students stay with a couple of the American students and their mates and spend a lot of time socializing with them. By spending all this time together both parts of the team, Americans and Danish, are able to get a better idea of culture, language and professional skills. Participating in non-professional activities creates a friendly bond in which formalities and barriers are overcomes. For the same reason, communication become easier during the entire project work. This paper describes different stages of forming international and intercultural awareness during project work.