Education is no doubt a very important part of our lives. The last time we checked, we spend almost 15 years studying and learning. However, there are many other ways to pursue education and while some just pursue it only through books, many agree that you can learn much more by having practical sessions which emulates the real life scenario of problem solving.

One of our esteemed clients, Taylor’s University College recognizes this and has implemented Hands-on and project-based studies into their engineering programmes. While normal undergraduates are generally exposed to open-ended research projects only in their final year, engineering students at Taylor’s are allowed this opportunity from their very first year. Every semester, they are required to work in groups and apply engineering principles to come up with a solution to a problem or design a new product, which will then be showcased at the Taylor’s Engineering Fair. Hence, the engineering undergraduates learn not just in the classroom or lab environment, but also through a hands-on, project-based learning approach.

At the recent Engineering Industrial Awards held in conjunction with the Taylor’s Engineering Fair, the Solar Water Purifier project, an invention with revolutionary applications received top honours when it won awards in two categories: Best Engineering Design and Best Product Design Exercise Project. In total, five categories of awards were sponsored by educational and industry partners, namely the University of Melbourne, University of Birmingham, University of Warwick, University of Sheffield and Delcam PLC, a leading supplier of software product development solutions.

Taylor’s University College has launched its own Engineering degree programme. The 4-year Engineering degrees are offered in three disciplines: Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Chemical Engineering, Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Electrical & Electronic Engineering and Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering.

Students have the flexibility to complete their entire 4 years at Taylor’s, or opt to do a 2+2 years transfer to University of Birmingham (UK), University of Warwick (UK), Australian National University, University of Western Australia or University of Sheffield (1+3 years).

If you wish to find out more about Taylor’s University College you can drop by on their Campus Day on the 13th of June 2009 from 10am to 5pm. You’re invited to tour and meet the education counselors on that day. There are also attractive scholarships and bursaries available for the first intake of the Taylor’s University College Bachelor of Engineering programmes in September 2009. Log on to www.taylors.edu.my to find out more.

Imagine 19-year olds building a racing car, producing bio-diesel as alternative fuel or constructing a wind tunnel to study the effects of airflow around solid objects. Now that’s impressive, isn’t it? That’s why we titled this post “Hands On FTW”.