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Dealing with common problems in engineering degrees' Final Year Projects

Abstract:

After the implementation of the Bologna Process, the Final Year Project (FYP) is a mandatory course in all bachelor degrees in Spanish higher education system. Although the FYP is new for many degrees, it was already established in the previous education system for engineering degrees. The authors of this paper are lecturers in a bachelor degree in Computer Science at three different colleges of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. In the last few years, they have supervised more than 80 FYPs and they have all faced similar problems during the supervision process. This paper presents a study conducted to determine if the observed problems are just a perception of the authors or whether they are general problems in the elaboration of FYPs. In the study, 60 former students and 27 lecturers took part. Four main categories of problems have been identified and a proposal to overcome them is presented.