The PMG is funded by Fulbright Brazil, U.S. Embassy and Ministry of Education, through CAPES, the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education. The program is also supported by the National Council of Education since there is an immediate need in changing the educational regulations in Brazil with the aim of modernizing Engineering Education.
The PMG is an eight-year long special project initiated in 2019. It is addressing engineering undergraduate programs in cooperation with U.S. universities and scholars. In 2019, the PMG team has done some short missions in the U.S. and each Project could host some American experts (In general, experts are professors recognized by their efforts in engineering education). In the same year, a very large PMG group traveled to the U.S to visit the top engineering education departments at several universities (MIT, Harvard, Olin College, Pittsburgh, UIUC, Notre Dame, Purdue, Rice and UT-Austin).
In the beginning of 2020, PMG started to do the short missions again, but COVID-19 changed the plans, and the international mobility was interrupted. Since then, only online seminars and workshops are happening with American engineering education experts. The topics discussed are about assessment tools, learning methodologies, and the approximation with the productive sector.
PMG Objectives
PMG has six main objectives. The first is making a strong collaboration network between the U.S. and Brazil looking for improvements in engineering education. Another aim is to add entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation skills as common tracks for the professional attitudes of competent engineers. A third goal is having new engineering curricula aligned to competences required in the present and future of engineering professionals. The modernization initiatives have a strong engineering basis, but applying active methodologies, learning by competences and building smart classrooms. A fourth purpose is the integration of engineering education with industry and Society. North American universities are doing well with companies and Brazilian universities intend to follow their steps. But the culture is different, only a few companies are funding projects at Brazilian universities. It is important to strengthen the relationship and show this kind of partnership is good for both sides. On the other hand, the Society has a lot of problems where students could deal with real engineering problems to solve in an academic environment. But innovation couldn’t be done with hard and inflexible regulations. So, the PMG will propose new regulations for a modern engineering education in Brazil. And the last objective is the broadcasting of the best practices and innovation for the Brazilian engineering education.
The eight selected undergraduate programs and partial results
In this first edition of PMG, eight undergraduate programs were selected to drive the modernization initiatives.
Unisinos
One selected undergraduate program is Civil Engineering from Unisinos. The Institutional Modernization Project from Unisinos matches with the beginning of the PMG. The new curriculum is running since 2019 and students can choose five different tracks. To know what track to choose, freshmen are mentored from the beginning of the academic experience until and during the professional life. Students can choose between entrepreneurship, social innovation, internationalization, master courses in order to advance in a research path and to shorten the master graduation, and of course, a Civil Engineering track to strengthen the specific skills in this area. The learning teaching methodologies are based in a conception of active construction and knowledge collaboration sustained by experience, reflection, and action. In order for this to become true, a new collaborative space was built using Fulbright funding.
Of course, faculty must get a chance to evolve and update their teaching skills. To do that, Unisinos is promoting a period for faculty training every year. One of the North American experts in engineering education, prof. Mary Bestersfield-Sacre, offered excellent training for the faculty.
In conclusion, the engineering program is promoting projects in partnership with companies, during the academic life and in the capstone Project.
Federal University of Itajubá (Unifei)
Electronic Engineering program is conducting the modernization at Unifei. The undergraduate program is putting efforts in competency learning. They are using the revised Bloom’s taxonomy, CDIO framework and the New National Curricular Directives that were published in 2019.
However, to be effective on the learning competency model, the student must be active in the learning process. So, the student must understand he or she need to be the owner of the learning process. Electronic Engineering is putting efforts in one model of active learning methodologies: the Project-Based Learning. PBL helps students with skills to solve problems, work in teams, change management, communication skills, self-learning, and self-assessment. These competences are aligned with the professional profile. The undergraduate program is using the PETRA model also. This is a model where students and faculty work together. Each of them with their own responsibilities. Basically, there are four steps: reproduction, reorganization, transfer, and problem solving. All these initiatives promoted by the undergraduate program are helping faculty to carry out a new undergraduate program project.
It’s important to say UNIFEI didn’t stop with the academic activities during the pandemic. To deal with the distance, Unifei has used the CAPES funding to organize a set of materials and equipment and sent them to students for remote classes.
Pontifical Catholic University of Parana (PUCPR)
Control and Automation Engineering is responsible for the Pontifical Catholic University of Parana Institutional Project. The university is working hard to promote the competence model in all programs since 2015. PUCPR have kept an eye on the Digital Transformation and education changes since that time and before.
The PUCPR understanding about competences is the professional must know how to act as a transforming Society agent. To achieve this, the student must know a solid theoretical basis, he must know how to be a good citizen developing a set of skills like autonomy, critical sense, cooperation, devotion, and honesty. But student must know how to do with these skills practicing with hands on activities.
The Polytechnic School started its transformation in 2016 and the new engineering curricula were launched in 2018 with the first students engaging in the competence learning experience. The Control and Automation Engineering studied a lot about specific competences for the engineering professional. A research was done using the International Society of Automation model and the Competence Pyramid from Automation Federation. Other guidelines were used too, for example, the Student outcomes from ABET and the CDIO Initiative. Farther, the undergraduate program is alert about the Industry 4.0 needs too, and of course, on the professional profiles for the industry in the State of Parana, looking to the horizon of 2030. Also, the program has an Industry Advisory Board that gives inputs about the engineering professional.
The university is also promoting faculty training since 2015. Faculty is constantly updated about learning and teaching methodologies and assessment tools. Since then, new learning environments were built to apply active methodologies.
The below pictures show new learning spaces funded by Fulbright and CAPES. These are excellent learning environments to apply active methodologies like project-based learning and a places they can work in teams. The new labs are being used for presentations of academic projects developed with companies and to present capstone projects including the international ones, for example, final projects of double degree students.
Because all these hard work, Control and Automation Engineering got the accreditation by EAC in 2020. Control and Automation Engineering and Industrial Engineering are the first undergraduate programs to get the ABET accreditation in Brazil.
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
The fourth Project presented here is from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, with the Environmental Engineering.
The students can choose between seven tracks to allow them relate courses with real problems.
By this way, students learn by doing. Another aim is the integration with graduate program. With this possibility, the way for a Professional Master is shorter. Lastly, the curricula was improved, avoiding overlapping of contents.
Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar)
Materials Engineering from Federal University of São Carlos chose to spend the first four years of the project planning the undergraduate program proposal to implement in the last four years. During the first two years, workshops about active methodologies and assessment strategies were given to faculty members and webinars about the new national curriculum directives for engineering. Other actions are related to student host, mainly for freshmen and encouragement of women to engage in engineering programs.
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
Another exciting project is from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, with the Industrial Engineering Program. The curriculum redesign was done from stakeholders’ analysis and about what are their needs and expectations. For example, students, faculty, the own university, alumni, professional societies and councils, the industry, employers, and local Community were listened as stakeholders. After, the curriculum requirements were defined, followed by a conceptual design until reach a preliminary curriculum. In 2021, the program is working on the detailed project to implement it in 2022. All these steps are similar the CDIO framework.
SENAI Cimatec
SENAI Cimatec was created inside the Industry Federation of Bahia. This put the university in a strong partnership with the industries in the State and as an important educational institution driving the engineering education in Brazil.
SENAI Cimatec created seven workgroups to deal with educational Technologies, curricula and transition between them, infrastructure, faculty training and tracks to personalize the learning process. Before students reach the last year, they can choose between the researcher track, or the technical manager track or entrepreneur track.
The CDIO framework is being used at the SENAI CIMATEC too as a big reference in the curriculum redesign.
University of São Paulo (USP)
The last project to be presented here is from University of São Paulo, with the Chemical Engineering. The Polytechnic School started new curricula in 2019 and the Chemical Engineering was chosen to be a pilot project in the PMG.
The propose is to integrate the program with other undergraduate programs from polytechnic school, because is the best way to put students in the work field with multidisciplinary. In the Chemical Engineering, the interdisciplinarity is worked too.
They are applying the Bloom’s taxonomy and active learning methodologies, e.g., PjBL, flipped learning, team-based learning, and others.
The new proposed classroom to apply new learning methodologies is show in the figure, but it isn’t finished yet.
