When USC Upstate launched Industrial Engineering, they did so with two key goals – to provide students with better educational experiences, and to provide industry with better engineers.
The program has been a resounding success not just because USC Upstate asked for industry support, but by embedding industry right into the program.
Engineering, like many sciences, requires laboratory learning for students. This usually occurs in a laboratory environment on the university campus and includes hands-on learning opportunities for students.
USC Upstate does the laboratory experience differently. Each week, Industrial Engineering students at Upstate go out to real manufacturing settings and get a hands-on experience within an actual industry environment. With this innovative educational method, students get exposure to up to ten different companies per class, and get real hands-on experiences in various industries, all within a single semester. This provides opportunities for students to learn more – and at a faster pace.
For companies who partner with USC Upstate, they get to share their company’s products, environment, and culture, with prospective engineers – who are also prospective future employees – and potential future customers. The companies, because they have a hands-on experience, also can get some real engineering support with a very low investment – just one or two three-hour sessions with a group of future engineers.
Industrial Engineering students have opportunities to run robots, run automated guided vehicles, analyze job functions and make recommendations on improvements, learn how to analyze the quality of coffee, check and splice cables, assemble drive units, and much more. These examples were all in just one class and were real manufacturing environment experiences that drove rapid learning for students.
For many companies, the relationships with students did not end after that brief session. Many of the companies who participated in the program have already hired some of these future engineers as interns. Companies saw the immediate value of the education that these students were receiving, and put them to work!
This model, called “Lab-in-Industry”, has been so successful that it will be incorporated in all future engineering programs at the University, and it is being considered for other programs at the University as well. To show how valuable it has been for the industry partners, ALL partners volunteered to take part in the program again. They see that minimal investment, coupled with a strong partnership, provides current and future value.
USC Upstate is improving the way engineering is taught, and industry is part of that change. Visionaries from industry are helping to make that happen. Companies today have to look beyond the traditional education and hiring processes and look for opportunities to innovate with partnerships with higher education. That effort will lead to better opportunities to connect to the talent needed in the future.
When USC Upstate launched Industrial Engineering, they did so with two key goals – to provide students with better educational experiences, and to provide industry with better engineers.
The program has been a resounding success not just because USC Upstate asked for industry support, but by embedding industry right into the program.
Engineering, like many sciences, requires laboratory learning for students. This usually occurs in a laboratory environment on the university campus and includes hands-on learning opportunities for students.
USC Upstate does the laboratory experience differently. Each week, Industrial Engineering students at Upstate go out to real manufacturing settings and get a hands-on experience within an actual industry environment. With this innovative educational method, students get exposure to up to ten different companies per class, and get real hands-on experiences in various industries, all within a single semester. This provides opportunities for students to learn more – and at a faster pace.
For companies who partner with USC Upstate, they get to share their company’s products, environment, and culture, with prospective engineers – who are also prospective future employees – and potential future customers. The companies, because they have a hands-on experience, also can get some real engineering support with a very low investment – just one or two three-hour sessions with a group of future engineers.
Industrial Engineering students have opportunities to run robots, run automated guided vehicles, analyze job functions and make recommendations on improvements, learn how to analyze the quality of coffee, check and splice cables, assemble drive units, and much more. These examples were all in just one class and were real manufacturing environment experiences that drove rapid learning for students.
For many companies, the relationships with students did not end after that brief session. Many of the companies who participated in the program have already hired some of these future engineers as interns. Companies saw the immediate value of the education that these students were receiving, and put them to work!
This model, called “Lab-in-Industry”, has been so successful that it will be incorporated in all future engineering programs at the University, and it is being considered for other programs at the University as well. To show how valuable it has been for the industry partners, ALL partners volunteered to take part in the program again. They see that minimal investment, coupled with a strong partnership, provides current and future value.
USC Upstate is improving the way engineering is taught, and industry is part of that change. Visionaries from industry are helping to make that happen. Companies today have to look beyond the traditional education and hiring processes and look for opportunities to innovate with partnerships with higher education. That effort will lead to better opportunities to connect to the talent needed in the future.
AUTHOR
Johnathan Hooks