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ºÚÁϸ£ÀûÍø places strong emphasis on evidence-informed educational innovations, a principle that also underpins this project. The project supported the development and implementation of future-oriented initiatives such as the Delta program with (educational) design research. This page provides an overview of the research activities connected to the project, along with references to the related publications and conference contributions.

A first exploration by Bart Koppelmans - Master dissertation 

The extracurricular Student Team program serves as an extension of the university’s learning environment. Student teams have developed themselves to be supported learning environments for their members in their extra-curricular development. The teams contribute to student learning by allowing them to develop a wide range of competences, from technical knowledge to crucial soft skills like collaboration and problem-solving. While students gain valuable experience, a key challenge remains: how to effectively identify, reflect on, and articulate the competencies they've developed. This Master thesis addressed this challenge. The research focused on how to support both learning and competence identification in open, flexible self-directed learning environments.

The research focused on creating and evaluating a structured process to support competence identification. The goal was to move beyond a simple checklist of skills and provide a framework that helps students to be self-aware and take ownership of their learning journey. Through a series of co-creation sessions, interviews, and real-world testing with student teams, the research examined how dedicated time for reflection, guided discussions, and a simple, repeatable framework could make a significant difference.

The findings show that simply providing tools is not enough; students need a structured, deliberate approach integrated into their Student Team processes. It also revealed that students often underestimate their own learning, and a supportive framework can help them recognize the complex competencies they are building, even in the face of this implicitness of their learning. This process of intentional reflection is intended to transforms vague project experiences into tangible, communicable competences that are invaluable for future careers.

The study contributes to the self-directed learning literature through a definition of the competence identification process, and a framework on how to support self-directed learning and competence identification in open and flexible engineering education contexts without predefined learning outcomes. These insights contribute to the University of the Future project, as they provide a clear and actionable path for integrating self-directed learning support into extracurricular activities and exploring self-directed learning in curricular environments. The lessons learned offer a blueprint for mentors, project leaders, and even students themselves to enhance their learning and development in a meaningful way. The full report, which includes a detailed overview of the research methodology and results, can be found via the link below.

Eugenio Bravo - PhD project

This research project builds on the competence identification and explored the educational value of student participation in extracurricular, engineering-oriented teams at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. These teams operate within a challenge-based learning environment, where students voluntarily engage in interdisciplinary, real-world projects. With over 25 active teams and more than 600 participating students, the program represents a vibrant and dynamic learning ecosystem. Despite its scale and relevance, the learning processes and outcomes associated with these teams had not been thoroughly examined. This project aimed to fill that gap by investigating how such environments contribute to student development and how universities can better support learning beyond the formal curriculum.

To answer these questions, the study followed five student teams over a three-year period, using a qualitative case study approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, team documentation, artifact analysis, and observational notes. This provided a rich and detailed picture of students’ learning experiences and the factors that shaped them.

Regarding the first research question about what students learn: students reported a broad range of learning gains. These included disciplinary knowledge, personal and professional skills and attributes, interpersonal skills, and innovation and entrepreneurship-related competencies. Their learning was influenced by their roles within the team, the phase of the project, and their interactions with peers, academic advisors, and external partners from industry and society.

Regarding the second research question about how students learn, the findings of the study confirmed that learning within extracurricular engineering teams is fundamentally active, social, and experience-based. Students developed competencies by engaging directly in tasks, reflecting on their actions, and interacting with peers, mentors, as well as societal and industry partners. Students learning processes were not only shaped by the nature of the projects but also by the collaborative dynamics within the teams.

The study demonstrated that established learning theories—constructivist, situated, experiential, and cognitive apprenticeship—are highly applicable in these informal, student-led engineering environments. These theories provided a solid foundation for designing scaffolding strategies that support student learning in such contexts. Additionally, the CDIO framework proved to be a valuable tool for categorizing learning outcomes. It effectively aligned students’ self-reported learning gains with the competencies expected in professional engineering practice. 

A specific part of the study focused on how experienced team members supported new members in learning to perform their roles. In this context, knowledge transfer—the process of sharing know-how, experiences, and resources—was examined in depth. Initially, knowledge transfer practices were informal and fragmented, relying on casual conversations, scattered documents, and trial-and-error learning. However, when teams introduced structured onboarding, mentoring and feedback, storytelling, and multimodal documentation (such as written guides, videos, and workshops), students became more aware of where knowledge was stored and how to access it. They also recognized the importance of transferring knowledge to help their teams evolve into learning organizations, identified which methods were most meaningful in their specific context, and gained the confidence to repeat the process with future cohorts. These improvements helped new members contribute more quickly and confidently, and strengthened collaboration and continuity of the engineering and managerial work across the team. 

From a practical standpoint, the research recommends that universities provide targeted educational resources to scaffold students’ learning—such as guidance on onboarding new members, strategies for delivering effective feedback, and tools to support reflection. These elements help maximize the learning potential within student teams and contribute to transforming them into learning organizations.

In conclusion, the study demonstrated that extracurricular engineering teams offer rich and authentic learning experiences that complement formal education. By actively supporting knowledge transfer and embedding reflective practices, institutions can unlock the full educational potential of these environments. Ultimately, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of how engineering education can evolve to meet the demands of complex, interdisciplinary, and socially responsive practice.

How can students become entrepreneurial change agents by Victor Garcia Galofré - PhD project

This PhD research explores how engineering education can empower students to become entrepreneurial change agents, equipped to address Grand Societal Challenges (GSCs) such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The project stems from 4TU.CEE’s ambition to foster engineers who bring technical expertise to society by applying an entrepreneurial mindset. These entrepreneurial engineers can navigate uncertainties, define problems, detect opportunities, and collaborate beyond their disciplines, thus creating multiple kinds of value for and with others (e.g., sustainable, economic, social, environmental, or cultural value).

To support this transformation in entrepreneurship education for engineering students, this research investigates what entrepreneurship education means from multiple perspectives, such as lifelong learning, impact and change, science and technological innovation and business and management. Ultimately, we provide insights for the university of the future to design evidence-based educational experiences that go beyond the predominant economic or business-oriented understanding of entrepreneurship education.

Three key steps of the study

1. Study how entrepreneurial engineers and faculty define the value creation process of addressing GSCs and discuss its implications for entrepreneurship education.
2. Examine current entrepreneurship education to understand what the learning journey of engineering students looks like when addressing GSCs and detect opportunities for improvement.
3. Propose ways to improve entrepreneurship education through the lens of value-creation pedagogies, such as Challenge-Based Learning.

Our results reveal how entrepreneurial engineers navigate complexity, uncertainty and address GSCs for and with others, through continuous validation and refinement cycles. Throughout this process of value creation, entrepreneurial engineers deal with emotional rollercoasters and face dilemmas, forcing them sometimes to choose between different orientations of entrepreneurship, including aspects related to business viability, desired impact and change, technological innovation or growth. The accompanying visual poster illustrates these orientations and the dynamic journey of entrepreneurial engineers and future students as they evolve into change agents. Our model bridges theory and practice, offering a roadmap for future responsible educational innovation for engineers that connect their knowledge to society.