Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to establish the role of the website in the educational process of Bedrijfsmanagement MKB students, and the use of the website in the student recruitment process.
These are hard days for companies: they have to survive in a market that has been hit by a financial crisis. Many countries in Europe have severe problems trying to overcome this financial crisis. The main remedy applied by governments is to cut back on expenditure, but on the other hand it is said that it is important for a country, and especially for companies, to invest in innovation. These innovations should lead to innovative products that will lead to profitability turnovers for these companies and, as a consequence, improve the economic conditions in a country. Universities provide students with engineering competences, like develop innovation, with which they can show a higher degree of ability to answer complex questions such as how to become players in the market again. Teaching students to become more innovative engineers, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Department of Engineering, has designed a curriculum in which students are educated in the competence innovation. An important element in the process of teaching innovation to students is the approach of inquiring into possibilities of patents. In the second semester of the first year, students can decide to join an innovative project called: ‘The invention project’. The basis of this project is that students are given the opportunity to create their own invention and with their previously acquired knowledge and skills they design, calculate, prototype and present their invention. In a research project, the experiences of students in this Invention Project have been analysed. The goal of this study was to understand what the success factors are for such a project. The basis of this inquiry is a questionnaire to identify the opinions of students. The research was carried out in the spring semester of 2012. In total 31 students were involved in this research. The results show that there was a high degree of student satisfaction about the Invention Project focused on innovation development. Success factors for this project in the first year of the curriculum were seen: 1 to work on own inventions, 2 development of student’s perception of the total product creation process and 3 to make students see the relevance of contacts with real professionals from industry and from the patent office in their own project. Improvements can be made by: 1 helping students more during the creativity stage in the project and 2 to coach them more on the aspect of engineering a successful invention of which they can be proud. This Invention project is a interesting with which collaborations with other universities can be set up.
Obtaining credits, studying for exams, attending classes, engaging with fellow students and lecturers, living alone or with others, and taking part in extra-curricular activities: there is a fair amount for students in higher education to take in. There are also numerous external factors — such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the changing labour and housing market — that affect students. However, students experience these situations differently and deal with them in different ways. How can we ensure that, notwithstanding these stress factors and differences, as many students as possible become and remain engaged and energised? Happier students tend to be more engaged and generally achieve better study results.1 That is why student well-being is also a widely researched and important topic. The search is on for measures to promote student well-being and success. Having a clear idea of how things are going for a student and what they need is a starting point. This booklet helps readers to identify different student profiles and understand what is needed to improve student success. We zoom in on two key aspects of student success: engagement and emotional exhaustion.
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