Empowering talented students: An Italian experience of an enriched curriculum in engineering

Abstract

This paper summarizes the design, the activities performed, and the main results achieved by an innovative teaching program, set-up for the talented freshmen in Engineering Bachelor's courses at an Italian technical University, the Politecnico di Torino, starting from 2013. The project structure is here detailed, year-by-year, with a focus on both the reinforcement of an Engineering standard curriculum, and the hybrid activities, also in non-technical areas, such as soft-skills, critical thinking, humanities, and creativity. The strategies and methods for the students' selection are discussed, and the University human resource efforts and the costs involved are justified. The results achieved during a three-year experience, based on a structured survey to collect students' feedback, are then critically analysed with the purpose to suggest implementation and further development.