This paper was presented at the 2008 Engineering Conference - Innovation Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education.
As a component of the University of Rijeka the Faculty of Civil Engineering was actively involved in the reform of studies according to the Bologna declaration. The collaboration between the Faculty and civil engineering employers existed even prior to the reform so that this “good practice” was kept and improved in the reform process. The work based learning in collaboration with employers (practical work) has been adapted to new programmes within introduced study cycles. In order to improve the success of studying and to prepare the students better for the labour market new activities were also implemented. In the year 2006/07 the “Civil Engineering Faculty Student Week” was organised at the Faculty in cooperation with the student union and local civil engineering employers. During this week meetings between students and employers’ representatives and different workshops about career development and job requirements were organised. Simultaneously with the reform the quality assurance system was established at the Faculty. One of the first activities of this system was the questioning of civil engineering employers and graduated students (alumni) about their perception of readiness of Faculty graduates for the labour market. The research results pointed out both positive and negative aspects of the study at the Faculty and were very useful for the future development of the institution. The goal of this paper is to present models of collaboration between faculties and employers implemented at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Rijeka as examples of “good practice“ and possible approaches for improving the quality of studying.
