Bridging academia and industry through industrial guest lecture: do students find them valuable?

Abstract

Guest lectures from the civil engineering industry bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical applications. This study aims to assess students’ perceptions and learning outcomes with industrial guest lecture sessions to determine what value students find in them. The data were obtained from responses of 95 students through the distribution of questionnaires who undergo subjects of Soil Mechanics as well as Water and Wastewater Engineering as the first method. The second method was the analysis on the students’ performance in their final examination, based on the selected topic. The first part of study revealed, most of the respondents seem to agree that the program gives them new exposure and knowledge that they were not able to find during normal class. Besides, the respondents believed they would be able to broadening their knowledge with real and latest application related to the delivered topics, and bridging the classroom learning with real industry practices. The second part of study indicated there were 38% and 69% students’ part 3 and 5 respectively who achieved excellent marks on both topics covered by industrial guest lectures in the final examination. Analysis result offers guidance to university educators to maximize the value of industrial experiences to students for the better understanding in term of academic and future career.