Engineering a bright future
WE live in a world powered by technology, fuelled by information and driven by knowledge.
Over the years, the concept of teaching has evolved from its traditional definition to one that exposes students to real- life projects and scenarios to echo the change that is taking place in the world today.
Employers today too look for graduates who are able to apply their classroom knowledge seamlessly in the work environment and that is achievable by using real- world scenarios in universities.
As a progressive university, Taylor’s recognises the need to empower today’s students with the ability to meet the needs of tomorrow’s society.
The university’s ultimate quest for excellence has propelled its School of Engineering to adopt a holistic approach in educating engineers who are poised to become leaders and innovators in the engineering industry.
Guided by a strong research culture within a curriculum designed to address real- world challenges, engineers are groomed with a “big picture” view through the implementation of the Conceive- DesignImplement- Operate ( CDIO) initiative.
CDIO is an innovative framework from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT) in the US, which stresses on engineering fundamentals set in the context of the whole product life cycle.
This framework is used for training worldclass engineers and has been incorporated by many leading universities such as Duke University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Liverpool, University of Sydney and University of Auckland.
Conceive is the first step of coming up with the idea of a product or service. Design is the next step of how the intended system, product or service will look like.
The idea and design are made, built and brought to life at the Implement stage.
Lastly, Operate is when the product or service are used or functioned safely and efficiently.
Since its establishment in 1996, Taylor’s School of Engineering has set the benchmark for engineering education and serves as a role model for other institutions within the region.
It is the first engineering school in South- East Asia to adopt the CDIO initiative, enabling Taylor’s to apply this approach to create engineers who are able to meet the real- world demand of their profession and becomes innovators in providing solutions for the betterment of humankind.
“By implementing the CDIO standards in our approach to engineering education, we have been able to better tailor our programmes to meet the needs of the industry,” said Assoc Prof Ir Dr Satesh Namasivayam, acting Dean of Taylor’s School of Engineering.
“This approach has been adopted by more than 93 collaborating institutions and universities over 25 countries worldwide for more than a decade,” he added.
Taylor’s School of Engineering students are trained through this project- based curriculum, encouraging them to explore their passion in their chosen areas of specialisation and work on actual projects throughout their degrees.
Through this approach, they are challenged to design, make decisions, manage resources, investigate activities and come up with realistic solutions to problems.
One successful example of the project- based learning approach, utilising the CDIO framework, is Taylor’s Racing Team ( TRT).
TRT started with a group of passionate second year engineering students in 2010, making a race car as their class project.
Within three months, they have designed and manufactured a car for the Formula Varsity 2010 student race and won two out of three awards from the event.
Since its inception, the team has built on its strengths and created two more combustion cars, which were used to compete in student race events such as EIMA Race, Formula Varsity and Formula Youth.
TRT is the first Malaysian team to compete in the prestigious student racing competition, the Formula SAE in Melbourne, Australia, in December 2015.
They were also the youngest team competing with older and more experienced racing teams from universities worldwide.
Out of 35 participating teams, TRT gave a performance worthy of praise after successfully completing the race with no breakdowns and earned third place overall for business presentation, 18th place overall for engineering design and 15th place overall for endurance race.
What is even more impressive is the team’s overall placing at 323 out of 528 teams in the Formula Student World Ranking for Combustion Car.
This position tops other well- known universities from around the globe, including Cambridge University, which is ranked at 383 among others.
Taylor’s University School of Engineering currently offers four- year degree programmes in three disciplines, namely Bachelor of Engineering ( Honours) in Chemical Engineering, Bachelor of Engineering ( Honours) in Electrical & Electronic Engineering and Bachelor of Engineering ( Honours) in Mechanical Engineering.
For more information on the engineering programmes offered by Taylor’s University School of Engineering, call 03- 5629 5000, e- mail admissions@ taylors. edu. my or visit www. taylors. edu. my/ soe.