Integrating Engineering and Business Education Through Cross-Curricular Modules and Simulation-Based Learning

Traditionally, engineering and business education programs are conducted separately in different academic units. In the workplace, however, these two disciplines cannot be separated. Moreover, in academia, the two disciplines rarely see how their decisions impact each other whereas in industry there is a direct link between engineering decisions and business decisions. In recent years, there have been several initiatives to address the gaps in academia. These include but are not limited to capstone projects, internships, case studies integrated into undergraduate engineering and business curricula, and interdisciplinary business and engineering programs. However, there is a lack of studies that investigated the effectiveness of these initiatives. Further, only a few studies have explored the development of learning modules and hands-on simulations for teaching design and manufacturing and the incorporation of these modules and simulations into both engineering and business curricula. In this research, we introduce a simulation-based approach for integrating engineering and business learning in undergraduate courses. The proposed approach is cost-effective and it relies on cross-curriculum case studies and simulation activities that are based on a common product. This approach also incorporates both in-depth and broad learning modules that integrate manufacturing education by illustrating how knowledge is transferred and captured throughout the entire product development life cycle. The proposed approach was tested in undergraduate engineering and business courses and showed improvements in student understanding of complex concepts and practical application of theoretical knowledge.