Final Project Fair As A Platform For Student Industry Contacts

Since its foundation in 1994, the School of Engineering at Jonkoping University has a profile of strong industry involvement. The school has about 500 industrial partners in the surrounding region, contributing with professional skills and business relevance to the academic curriculum. We are now planning to further strengthen these bonds by initiating a final project fair, establishing the graduation as a public event and an academic festivity. The fair is planned as a staff initiative, with a small project team, and lot of the work done by the students. The university will use its industry partner network to promote the occasion. In the pilot version we estimate around 50 participating projects. In a few years, we hope to reach 200. There is a double agenda for this event. Primarily, we want to facilitate student industry contacts by establishing a platform. Secondly, we want to further market the university as a regional knowledge hub by hosting these activities and making them a public academic event. By the time of presentation, we will be able to show the actually outcome of the first fair, planned to be held May 31, 2012.