Why Universities want to join CDIO?

The CDIO initiative started in 2000 with four universities, in 2011 there was already 62 schools and today there is more than 120 universities. The rising number of universities in CDIO shows that the initiative provides something that the engineering schools/faculties/universities are looking for. The CDIO initiative can be seen as an innovation aiming at improving engineering education. An innovation can be defined as an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption. The characteristics of an innovation, as perceived by the members of a social system, determine its rate of adoption. The CDIO approach can be understood as an innovation which is perceived new by a school/faculty or university. The characteristics of an innovation define the rate of adoption: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, observability to those people within the social system. Each of the characteristics are explained and reflected to CDIO in detail in the paper. But what are universities thinking when they are applying to join CDIO initiative? Why universities want to join CDIO? One way of answering these questions is to look deeper in their application documents. The actual procedure to apply CDIO membership is quite simple and lean. As part of the process the applicants answer the CDIO questionnaire, where the applicant answers a set of questions such as • Why does your university want to join the CDIO Initiative? • How do you expect CDIO to impact these programs?

For this paper, 58 CDIO applications are analyzed. The first analysed applications are from 2010 and latest are from 2016. Based on the analysis we try to understand the initial motivation of the applicants to apply CDIO membership. Which elements of the CDIO approach are the ones that attracts new universities – which characteristics of the innovation are important to the applicants? Another viewpoint is the expectations of the applicants – how they expect CDIO to impact their programs? The CDIO applications are analysed with content analysis.

The study provides information from various viewpoints and for various groups. First, universities that are considering CDIO initiative can observe the rationale and expectations of other universities for their own decision making. Second, universities already within CDIO initiative might recognize new and fresh ideas for their development. Finally, the study provides understanding for the CDIO leaders how CDIO is perceived and is that perception similar as the CDIO leaders wants.

Proceedings of the 13th International CDIO Conference in Calgary, Canada, June 18-22 2017