Capstone innovation project

Capstone innovation project - opportunities for creative students

Text | Kari Haajanen, Senior Lecturer and Degree Programme Leader and Elina Asukas, Administrative Assistant, Turku UAS Photo | Martti Komulainen

Capstone is a multidisciplinary learning module at Turku University of Applied Sciences that matches students from more than 10 fields who are nearing the end of their studies with a company or research group. The aim is to combine working life with studies in a more realistic and concrete way. Students bring fresh competence to projects and simultaneously get the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to the customer. The Capstone project often provides students with a springboard for further cooperation, for example, in the form of a thesis, practical training or a workplace.

The Capstone innovation project is one of Turku UAS’s largest study modules. Approximately 800 students and staff from the Faculty of Engineering and Business are currently participating each year. The scope of the course is 10 credits. In total, this involves implementing 8,000 credits, which means nearly 150 person-years of work and 100 projects. This is a huge number, and it includes some real success stories.

Students begin the road to Capstone by participating in a project workshop during the first autumn of their studies. The workshop is very similar to Capstone, but the sponsor usually comes from inside Turku UAS. After this, the students work in different projects in their own field, while the third year is the multidisciplinary and more demanding

Capstone in the big picture

1st year

Project Hatchery 5 ETCS Knowledge and skill requirements increase

2nd year

Project Modules 15 ETCS

3rd year

Capstone Innovation project

10 ETCS

4th year

Thesis RDI activities

Work placement 30 ECTS

We were happy that students really gathered the information and delivered clear vision what is the best option in different cases.

Capstone period. The working language of the course is English.

Capstone projects are determined by the fields of the students taking part in each semester. The aim is to offer each student the opportunity to work in a project in their own field, but also the chance to learn new things in a project in a different area. At the start of the course, students can influence which project they want to participate in. This ensures that each student has the best possible motivation for the upcoming project.

Capstone offers students the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in projects when potential employers are the project owners. After graduating, many students have also utilised this opportunity to build a career at the company they worked with during Capstone. It’s wonderful for a student to get a foot in the door of working life well before graduation.

The majority of Capstone projects come from companies recruited by group tutors through their contacts. Project acquisition from the business world requires a long-term approach. The owners of successful projects often want to continue working with new student groups in the next Capstone implementation.

Quotes from a feedback survey for project owners: “We were happy that students really gathered the information and delivered a clear vision on what is the best option in different cases. We also got ideas about the pain points we have and we will utilize this in the next development project.”