Does a master's program in engineering require a final project?

• Main Authors: Audunsson, Haraldur, Rouvrais, Siegfried, Rudd, Ralph, Kristjánsson, Ragnar, Matthieu Moschetta, Olivier
• Other Authors: Reykjavík University, Equipe Processes for Safe and Secure Software and Systems (Lab-STICC_P4S), Laboratoire des sciences et techniques de l'information, de la communication et de la connaissance (Lab-STICC), École Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Brest (ENIB)-Université de Bretagne Sud (UBS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées Bretagne (ENSTA Bretagne)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Bretagne Loire (UBL)-IMT Atlantique (IMT Atlantique), Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-École Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Brest (ENIB)-Université de Bretagne Sud (UBS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées Bretagne (ENSTA Bretagne)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Bretagne Loire (UBL)-IMT Atlantique (IMT Atlantique), Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT), Département Informatique (IMT Atlantique - INFO), IMT Atlantique (IMT Atlantique), Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: project; dissertation; thesis; learning outcomes; rubric; Master of Science; CDIO; internship; pedagogy; accreditation; quality; learning; [SHS.EDU]Humanities and Social Sciences/Education; Iceland
• Online Access: https://imt-atlantique.hal.science/hal-03683564; https://imt-atlantique.hal.science/hal-03683564/document; https://imt-atlantique.hal.science/hal-03683564/file/FPCinEngineering.pdf

International audience Within engineering education frameworks worldwide, requirements for a master's degree are diverse and very few graduate-level engineering courses are recommended for accredited programs. To ascertain how common the requirement for a final project at the master's level is, an ad hoc review of international master's programs was conducted. This review included several of the highest-ranking universities internationally and selected universities in Europe. From this review, it is established that the standard practice is to require students attempting a master's degree in engineering to complete what we term a final project course, which may or may not be research-focused, and typically corresponding to one semester of work. This paper summarizes how the considered universities integrate a final project course into their programs and distinguishes how these might differ from traditional research-focused master's dissertations. We discuss the practical difficulties of managing such projects. We conclude by providing a rubric for self-assessment and reform that aligns with the criteria for continuous improvement in a graduate program quality framework.