Sami Kara, Scientia Education Academy Fellow

Title: Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program

(updated version May 2021)

https://www.challeng.unsw.edu.au/challeng-pillars/vertically-integrated-projects

Introduction

The Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program has been initiated in the Faculty of Engineering at UNSW, first time in Australia, in late 2019 to unite undergraduate education and faculty research in a team-based context.  Undergraduate VIP students earn academic credits, while faculty and graduate students benefit from the design/discovery efforts of their teams. 

VIP extends the academic design experience beyond a single semester, with students participating for up to three years. The program provides the time and context to learn and practice professional skills, to make substantial contributions, and experience different roles on large multidisciplinary design/discovery teams. 

The long-term nature of VIP creates an environment of mentorship with faculty and graduate students mentoring teams, experienced students mentoring new members, and students moving into leadership roles as others graduate. VIP attracts students from many disciplines and enables the completion of large-scale design/discovery projects, strengthening and expanding faculty research portfolios while creating long-term research and development experiences, cultivating leadership, and mentoring and, benefiting faculty research programs. 

I have been appointed as a director of the VIP program in early 2019 to lead the program. In late 2019, it was decided to run a pilot of the program with a select few academic leads as a proof of concept in the UNSW context, with a view to expanding it faculty-wide (and ultimately, university-wide) in 2021 as well as piloting inter faculty project. 

Theoretical Background 

The Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program is the next revolution in higher education research and innovation. It unites undergraduate education and faculty research, innovation, design, and entrepreneurship in a team-based context that creates long-term, large-scale projects. The VIP Program started at Purdue in 2001 and found a new home at Georgia Tech in 2009. Since then, the program has expanded to a consortium of 30 universities, with NYU as the only New York City-based institution. 

The essential characteristics of the VIP Program are: (1) projects based on faculty mentor’s research and innovation projects; (2) undergraduate participation for course credit; and (3) learning outcomes focused on the development of disciplinary and professional skills. VIP faculty research benefits from large, multidisciplinary teams made up of 1st through 4th year students to postgraduate master’s students—with each student participating from one to four years. The VIP model helps to break down the barriers to innovation including the silos of discipline, time, and mission. In VIP courses, multidisciplinary groups can tackle large challenges outside the constraints of the academic calendar. A university’s core missions of education, research, and service are integrated through VIP courses.  

VIPs are a transformative force in experiential learning. Students gain a more well-rounded learning experience when they can apply concepts to real-world problems. Through VIPs, students interact with the academic lead’s industry partners (i.e., potential employers), have the opportunity to commercialize their ideas, and receive course credit. Additionally, VIP courses help students develop professional skills such as written and oral communication, teamwork, and creative problem solving. Undergraduates gain from the long-term activity in a research topic and they get to contribute to the research project in a meaningful way. As students progress through the courses, their seniority on the project demands leadership, management, and mentorship roles that prepare them for the workforce. Many of these skills are passed down from professor to graduate student to undergraduate student creating a sustainable environment for projects to flourish. The VIP goal of systemic reform of higher education aligns with the UNSW’s 2025 strategy. Each VIP enables innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities for students through UNSW’s world-class research.  

Aims 

The aim of the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) program is to significantly contribute to several faculty priorities for education and research, including: 

• Increased exposure of undergraduate students to research 

• Signature student experiences 

• Real-world application of engineering principles 

• Development of teamwork and leadership 

• Scaling up of undergraduate research activity and student-led projects 

Progress / Outcomes / Next steps 

From 2019-2020, 

• Established working group in late 2018 to investigate the opportunities around implementing VIP program in the Engineering Faculty 

• Early 2019, I have been appointed as the Director of the VIP program to lead the implementation.  

• A pilot implementation group has been set up from 9 academics with 9 pilot projects within the faculty from multiple disciplines to pilot the implementation. 

• An entire curriculum with three courses, ENGG 2600, 3600and 4600, learning outcomes, graduate attributes, assessments, and assessment guidelines, have been developed and implemented prior to T1 2020. 

• Lead the development of project structure for the program and 9 pilot projects 

• Leading by example by introducing my own project, R2: Robe-re-Recycle 

• Lead the development of administration structure, application, and enrolment process. 

• Lead the developed professional workshops for VIP students to develop their professional skills outside their curriculum. 

• Conducting student and academic info-session for students and academics within the faculty, 

• Lead the implementation of the pilot program with 9 selected projects 

• Managed the COVID-19 crisis to successfully continue with the project 

From 2020 – 2021, 

• Lead the faculty rollout of the VIP program 

• Lead the interfaculty pilot of the VIP program in between the Faculties of Engineering, Medicine and Built Environment 

• Lead the development 25 new inter-disciplinary and inter-faculty projects, starting T1 2021 

• Revision of the pilot VIP curriculum by updating the learning outcomes, graduate attributes, assessments, and assessment guidelines based on lessons learned. 

• Conducting student and academic info-session within and in-between faculties. 

• More than 400 students from three faculties have applied for the new projects to start T1 2021. 

School level contribution

• School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Design Working Groups

Faculty level contribution

• Engineering, Excellence in Education Champions Group

UNSW level contribution

• UNSW Scientia Education Academy

External level contribution

• Fellow, CIRP - International Academy for Production Engineering 

Sustainability: the Grand Challenge of our Society and the Role of University Education

Sustainability is one of the greatest challenges of our modern society. It is critical for the survival of current and future generations. Sustainable development was first defined as “… development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” by the United Nations’ Brutland commission report in 1987. Since then, it has been extensively discussed globally and it has been made a prerequisite for numerous university curriculums around the world.

Professor Kara will talk about his eight years of experience teaching the complex subject of sustainability, which has been informed by twenty years of his research experience in the field. We will hear about his approaches to engaging students in the learning process by using a range of methods, including industry engagement, in order to contextualise the relevance of their learning to the respective profession. Professor Kara will also discuss the value of digital uplift in teaching complex subjects such as sustainability. 

Click here to view the lecture.

Past lecture: Fifteen years with first-year students and still learning

In industry, engineering graduates face real-life problems on a daily basis and they are expected to solve these problems by using their knowledge acquired during their education. Students require specific engineering skills as well as graduate capabilities, including problem solving skills, critical thinking, teamwork, discipline-oriented communication, research and the ability to learn independently. Yet the teaching is traditionally often very didactic and encourages rote learning. Thus, students can be unprepared for the workforce, and unable to integrate and apply their knowledge in an industrial setting. First year in a student’s life is particularly challenging as they go through a transition from high school to university learning style, and therefore it is critical that they contextualise the relevance of their learning in the discipline context.

In this lecture, Professor Kara talked about his experience with first-year engineering students over the last 15 years and about his attempts to engage them in the learning process. He explored how using and implementing various concepts, such as blended learning, project-based learning, role playing, research in teaching, or industry engagement helped students contextualise the relevance of their learning with a continuous improvement process in relation to their profession and industry.

Click here to view the lecture.