Project Detail

Qualification

Leader of This WP: Gazi University

The initial application area of AM technologies was the time-efficient production of prototypes, also known as "rapid prototyping". With its developing technology in recent years, a significant increase has been observed in applications for the direct production of industrial products, especially in the Aviation and Medical industry and in General Engineering. Due to these needs, specializations working in AM technology today have created a strong demand that cannot be met by university graduates. The reason for this is that AM cannot be fully represented in university curricula, and in addition to this, the development of technology in the AM industry has not been able to respond to content that is extremely dynamic and requires a significant amount of new information every year. Continuous, sustainable and accessible training on AM has become very important for employed people. Creating this qualified education is only possible by determining the needs of the groups in this sector and creating contents that serve this purpose.

Additive manufacturing training is key to the project. Unfamiliarity with AM is one of the barriers to widespread adoption of additive manufacturing technologies. It is aimed to meet this need through the AM course curriculum to be created with this project. Comparison of AM education curricula in different countries and different educational levels will result in the students to gain the competencies of AM technologies by using both problem-based and project-based pedagogies.

Although there are examples of curriculum comparisons of AM technologies, there is no holistic comparison of content (with different materials, design and production chapters) in this coverage. Access to curricula offered for a fee or it is given in the universities for engineering students but with a limited coverage and with the needs analysis and developments. The curriculum to be created comparatively includes the scope of technical content and the practices of the production of direct industrial products, and the curriculum content will be presented as opensource, enabling all university educators, students, sector employees and anyone interested in AM throughout the EU to reach AM without geographical and economic obstacles.

An inclusive comparison, in which general information is given in a field such as dynamics of production, material selection, design methods, more efficient designs with topological optimization, 3D printer types and working mechanisms, has not been established before.

Description: Sustainable and accessible training on AM has become very important for employed people. Creating this qualified education is only possible by determining the needs of the groups in this sector and creating contents that serve this purpose. Additive manufacturing training is key to the project. Unfamiliarity with AM is one of the barriers to widespread adoption of additive manufacturing technologies. It is aimed to meet this need through the AM course curriculum to be created with this project.

Methodology:This part of the report outlines the list of AM Courses and trainings in EU countries and existing curriculums. Collected curriculums are evaluated and classified based on focus area (i.e process, design, application etc.). For this purpose, 13 EU countries were searched, 2,750 individuals, more than 60 institutions and more than 80 CIDs were examined.

Actions:

• The curriculums were grouped based on topics and learning outcomes to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the content covered in each curriculum.
• The grouped curricula were evaluated to identify strengths and weaknesses and ensure that all relevant topics and learning outcomes were included.
• A list of learning outcomes was prepared based on the AM Strategy to ensure that the curricula covered all the necessary knowledge and skills related to AM.
• Requested AM topics within the AM Strategy were identified and included in the curriculum.
• A Fit-gap analysis was performed to compare the current curricula with the AM Strategy outcomes and identify any gaps or areas for improvement.
• A report summarizing the Fit-gap analysis results was written to provide insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the current curricula.
• Based on the Fit-gap analysis results, AM topics and learning outcomes were prepared to address any gaps identified.
• A new AM Curriculum was prepared based on the Fit-gap analysis and the identified AM topics and learning outcomes.
• The proposed AM Curriculum was shared with partners for their opinions and feedback.
• The opinions of the partners were evaluated, and any necessary amendments were made to the AM Curriculum based on their feedback.
• The Curriculum Proposal was presented to the relevant educational institutions in the partner countries to receive their opinions and ensure that the curriculum met their requirements.