Internal and external stakeholders’ impact on product development curriculum design

Abstract

This paper is based on research concerning curriculum design work done at Tampere University, Unit of Automation Technology and Mechanical Engineering (former Tampere University of Technology, Laboratory of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Systems), Finland. The paper examines internal and external stakeholders and their influence on curriculum design work from higher education teachers´ point of view. The teachers do not develop curriculum independently of other stakeholders. Instead, the development activity is seen here as a joint effort of both internal and external stakeholders having a common goal of improving curriculum design and practice. In this case, internal stakeholders include the faculty, the students, and the higher education teachers’ own community while external stakeholders refer to the higher education policy and the labour market. The aim of the paper is twofold: Firstly, to analyse and make visible what kind of influence various stakeholders have on curriculum design work in product development education, and secondly, to discuss the ways in which higher education curriculum can be improved as a collaborative process between internal and external stakeholders.