Hands-On Education At Kanazawa Technical College

Kanazawa Technical College (KTC) is one of the newest members of CDIO. It is also the first institution in Japan to join CDIO as a Collaborator. Since applying for and receiving a grant in 2007, KTC’s Mechanical Engineering department has led the school in educational reform by reviewing and enhancing the curriculum to ensure its students have all of the skills both necessary and desired for industry upon graduation. Through this process, the “Creative Design” series of courses were developed and instituted. They conform to the CDIO Syllabus and Standards more closely than any other courses currently offered, so KTC has started benchmarking and analyzing its curriculum with these courses. Additional courses and departments will follow, but due to the cultural and language differences, adoption will be a slow process. Stakeholders will be involved throughout the curriculum enhancement process and current survey practices will be used to understand how KTC education as a whole compares to the CDIO Syllabus. Many documents and tools provided by CDIO are still being understood and translated, such as ITU assessments, and will be used in the future to assist with curriculum integration. KTC is also assisting additional institutions to learn about and join CDIO as future Japanese collaborators.