Abstract:

In the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), learning is understood as an integrated set of a specific knowledge and skills. Thus, besides of the specific objectives of the subjects, the (transversal) expected skills could be divided into instrumental and personal ones. The consideration of the personal skills is one of the most important innovations with respect to traditional methodologies.

Among these personal ones, we can find the capability to work in team, the ability to lead a team and the ability to have contact with other people. But, professors of the field of Industrial Engineering are not able to tutor in these aspects at least in a real way, since, in general, they do not work at industries and therefore they do not have the expected skills. That claims for a collaboration between University and Industry in order to coach undergraduate students (and, why not, professors) and to transfer teamwork skills.

Teamwork is essential for competing in today's industrial field, where individual perfection is not as desirable as a high level of collective performance. In knowledge based enterprises, teams are the norm rather than the exception.

Thus, in this work, we show a pedagological innovation in education in this sense, which has been very well received by the students of the Industrial Engineering Degree of Castilla-La Mancha. Concretely, we explain what they have to know about and how to transfer these capabilities outlining the rise of teamwork and its benefits, defining a team and discussing different types and sizes, considering team selection, team roles team leadership and team development and including team building skills practices.

Keywords:

Innovation, University-Industry collaboration, Teamwork skills.