Academic Engineering Design Education in a Realistic Environment

The objective of academic education for mechanical design engineers is to convey qualifications which are necessary for product development in an industrial environment. The goal of the work described here is to improve engineering design education and to provide a more active learning experience. Design students should be familiarized with modern methods and technologies which they will most likely encounter during their future career. Design cannot be taught sufficiently in lectures alone [1, 2] and requirements on graduates in product development are continuously increasing. Not only professional skills but also social skills as well as proficiency with new technologies and methodologies become increasingly important [3]. For meeting these requirements the Karlsruhe Education Model for Product Development (KaLeP) [4] was developed at the Institute of Product Development (IPEK) at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany. In this contribution we present KaLeP, the role of modern design tools like CAD/PDM and wikis in education, the course projects for Machine Design and Integrated Product Development including training concept as well as the technical and organizational environment in which these courses take place.