GRADUATE PERSPECTIVES ON UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION STUDIO PROJECTS: THE CASE OF METU DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Date

2023-9-9

Author

Kaya, Ayşegül

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Studio courses constitute a significant part of industrial design education. In these studio courses, students conduct different projects throughout one semester according to the objectives of design education. In recent years there is an increasing interest in university-industry collaboration (UIC) projects. Collaboration projects might involve many different sectors and departments from universities, carried out on different topics and for different purposes such as R&D and product development. This thesis explores the benefits of UIC projects by looking at the case of METU Department of Industrial Design undergraduate studio courses. The type of UIC projects carried out in the department and the sectoral distribution of these projects over the years is examined. How the graduates evaluate UIC projects is investigated in terms of their career choices. The research consists of two stages. In the first stage, semester and graduation UIC projects were examined using the department website and archive. In the second stage, an online survey was directed to METU graduates. The findings highlight that at METU Department of Industrial Design, UIC projects are carried out with different firms from many different sectors, both in semester and graduation projects. Graduates perceive UIC projects in three different ways: personal gaining, professional impact, and access to advisor firms. Graduates state that with the support of UIC projects, they have gained many personal skills. They emphasize that such projects affect their professional life and career development. Finally, access to advisor firms is an important factor for graduates to implement and evaluate the UIC project processes.

Subject Keywords

University-Industry Collaboration (UIC), Industrial Design Education, Semester Projects, Graduation Projects, Industrial Design Graduates, Üniversite-Sanayi İşbirliği (ÜSİ), Endüstriyel Tasarım Eğitimi, Dönem Projeleri, Mezuniyet Projeleri, Endüstriyel Tasarım Mezunları

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/105438

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis