Developing Professional and Entrepreneurship Skills of Engineering Students Through Problem-Based Learning: A Case Study in Brazil

Engineering courses are currently experiencing a high dropout rate. At the same time, the industry is changing, following the evolution of big data systems, the internet of things, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and today's engineer therefore needs to develop new skills to achieve success as a professional. The purpose of this article is to present a teaching methodology that is organised in the form of a programme, and is based on a set of active methodologies such as project-based learning and hands-on activities. This program is called ARHTE, and provides a set of pedagogical actions for the elaboration of interdisciplinary activities, with the objective of overcoming the fragmentation of knowledge in engineering and the lack of a relationship with professional practice. In the ARHTE program, the first four semesters of a course involve students working in teams and applying cumulative knowledge to a comprehensive project. The ARHTE program has been applied within numerous engineering programs, including environmental, civil, computer, production, electrical, mechanical, automation and chemical engineering. One of the main universities in the state of Bahia, Brazil, has been using the ARHTE program, with 1,209 students enrolled in the second semester of 2018, and the results are presented in this paper. Evaluation surveys of students revealed that the proposed methodology was effective in terms of enhancing their interest in engineering. This study demonstrates that action that is coordinated among different university departments can result not only in improved learning but also in better preparation for the job market, participation in regional, national and international academic competitions, patent registration and the founding of new technology-based companies (startups). Standardised tests show that a significant improvement in scores was seen after this new learning methodology was introduced. The increased retention rate during the initial periods of the engineering programs is also an indicator of the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.