Integrating entrepreneurship into manufacturing engineering education

Abstract

Among highly desirable soft skill sets, entrepreneurship has received increasing attention in recent years in the engineering education community. This paper describes a Project-Based Learning approach to integrating entrepreneurship into an upper-level undergraduate manufacturing course entitled Machining Theory and Applications that was taught by the author of this paper at Utah State University. The students in the class were divided into six teams working on a variety of projects. Each project included three tasks: developing a computer software program for machining simulations, developing the associated business plan, and writing the business plan and orally presenting the project results. A representative example of student projects and associated business plans is provided in the paper. The students' attitudes toward and experiences with their projects were surveyed using a Likert-type and open-ended questionnaire at the end of the semester. The survey results indicated that 85.8% of students rated the overall experience with their projects positive or very positive, 81.0% of students agreed or very agreed that their business knowledge was improved by developing a business plan, and 90.4% of students agreed or very agreed that it is necessary and important to integrate entrepreneurship into manufacturing engineering education. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education.