Incubating engineers: entrepreneur-student collaboration in the teaching of entrepreneurship to mechanical engineers

Abstract

This paper will provide an example of using student-entrepreneur collaboration in the teaching of a module on entrepreneurship to Mechanical Engineering final year students at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) based in Ireland. Problem-based learning is one of the most significant recent innovations in the area of education for the professions. The focus in this type of learning is to provide the students with problem scenarios so that they can learn through a process of action and reflection. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate on the best pedagogical approach to developing engineering undergraduate skills to meet the requirements of contemporary complex working environments. The work proposes to make an original contribution by directly interfacing with industry in order to simulate a real-life entrepreneur interaction for the students. Finally I argue that this work contributes new insights to the debate on “pedagogies of engagement”.