One of C21U’s areas of interest is in novel practices for engineering education. This week’s blog post covers another inventive approach to engineering education, offered not online but on a traditional physical campus.  The Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering formally opened in 2002 and has developed an almost exclusively project-based engineering curriculum, as well as non-traditional administrative approaches.  While at odds with some of the current trends in open, online platforms, the Olin approach represents a notable effort in educational innovation.

In 1997, the F. W. Olin Foundation donated $460 million to establish Olin College as  “an innovative, agile learning community that plans to be always on the cutting edge of engineering education” by creating an almost entirely project-based curriculum for its students. Olin offers its 340 undergraduate students only a few majors—Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as General Engineering, in which students can earn concentrations in Computing, Bioengineering, Materials Sciences, and System Design.

Because the Massachusetts-based campus is confined to a small space, they have been able to centralize much of the traditional college infrastructure. For example, there is only one financial department that manages all majors. Olin shares many of its campus services including security and health facilities with nearby Babson College. There are no fraternities or sororities on campus and nearly all students live in on-campus housing. Of particular note is the fact that Olin College does not grant tenure, but rather, faculty are hired on five-year, renewable contracts.

Olin is well regarded, with a 9 to 1 student-teacher ratio and a nineteen percent acceptance rate, both indicators of exclusivity and prestige according to traditional ranking metrics. Currently, the Olin student body is a mere 340 students. Each student receives a scholarship to cover half of the cost of tuition upon admission, and can receive additional assistance based on need. This generous scholarship program limits the number of students admitted to the school, and it remains unclear whether or not Olin’s unique approach to engineering education can scale effectively.

Although one of the major current trends in higher education focuses on open, online classes, the Olin model provides an example of an educational model in some of the most in-demand career fields. This approach requires its brick-and-mortar campus, and students who live and work in close proximity to one another that may run counter to current trends in virtual education.

While current educational initiatives, such as Udacity, Coursera, and EdX, dominate current higher education news stories, Olin College of Engineering reminds us that innovation in higher education can still occur in traditional settings.

(updated 5/15/2012 to reflected changed student statistics)