MAKE FOR EDU - Requirements and evaluation criterias

Project related criteria’s

• (mandatory) A good supervision by an EPFL Professor and a coordinator (EPFL employee) in charge, as well as multiple partner laboratories
• The project feasibility: long term objectives are challenging but realistic and in line with EPFL pedagogical objectives and scientific disciplines. Interdisciplinary projects are aiming to last at least 3 years.
• The prototype to build is challenging and requiring multiple backgrounds but it is still realistic with the existing EPFL resources and prototyping network
• The budget (including sponsors) is realistic for the objectives set
• Risks (financial, accident, EPFL image, etc.) shall be identified and mitigated properly

Pedagogical criteria’s

• Learning by doing: the project should reinforce theoretical learning seen in courses through practical implementation.
• Open ended: the project should offer the possibility for students to develop their creativity and to look for many different potential solutions
• Interdisciplinarity: favoring interdisciplinarity by allowing students from different backgrounds to contribute to the project. The prototype(s) to be produced must be complex enough to push students to make compromises between disciplines.
• Transversal skills: the project must allow transversal skills development (group/human management, project management, knowledge management etc..).
• Sustainability: The project must, as far as possible, lead students to consider the dimension of sustainability in their project. Ideally the students should develop a systemic approach in evaluating the impact of their developments or the solutions they propose.

A given project can be very strong regarding a given criteria and less developed in another. For instance, a given project could be strongly focusing on sustainability but not as interdisciplinary as other projects. None of these criteria are eliminatory (except the very first one) and this list aims at providing the project with a direction/goal, but it is not expected to excel in every criterion. Time management of students is also to consider as the workload on the side of classical courses is very high in MAKE projects.

The strategic and operational committees will evaluate the global picture of every project to make their decisions.