Managing the transition of first-year students to a competency-based educational model

An educational module has been developed and implemented at the ETSEQ (University Rovira i Virgili, Spain) to facilitate the transition of first-year ChE students into a comprehensive project-based learning environment. All first-year students participate in the first-year integrated design project with fourth-year ChE students acting as project managers for first-year project teams. The eight-hour module is taught during the first two, weeks of the first term and is structured to take into account the factors needed for students to understand and commit themselves to change. The first year students' evaluation shows that the module helps them: (1) to identify what they need to accomplish to gain future employment as chemical engineers; (2) to understand what an integrated design project consists of and what the benefits of teamwork are, and (3) to realise that the integrated project and the related teamwork are great opportunities to acquire competencies that are essential in today's workplace.