Abstract:

Universities have to excel in both Education and Research. In many cases, those two areas are not well integrated and synergies are not properly exploited. For example, in most cases undergraduate students are not aware of the ongoing research activities in their University. In fact, they may not even know the research lines and projects of their professors. This disconnection between research and teaching opens many opportunities for improvement. In this context, the school of Engineering at Universidad Antonio de Nebrija has recently launched an initiative to improve the students’ awareness towards research. The University provides scholarships to students that help the academic departments in various tasks. The goal of this new initiative is to involve some of those students in the elaboration of periodical research dossiers and their distribution though the University social networks and other specific research channels. This would increase their awareness towards research as they would get in contact with people involved in this task. Their activities would include interviewing researchers and writing research news. They are also expected to provide a short presentation to their class at the end of each semester, in order to introduce this topic to the rest of the students. This initiative is expected to enhance the students’ perception of the University and their studies (which are often perceived as too theoretical). It will also help them in selecting a topic and an advisor for their final degree project, which is critical to do a good project in a reasonable time.

Keywords:

Higher Education Area, Research.