Purdue University Sponsored Class Projects and Capstone Projects

Department: Krannert School of Management

Course Name: Executive MBA Active Learning Project

To better prepare students for real-word applications, Purdue University encourages students to work on projects of interest to industry in the form of sponsored student class projects. Sponsored class projects and capstone projects should allow students to integrate as much of their education as possible, but with an appropriately limited scope and value to sponsor considering the open classroom setting.

What are the benefits to sponsoring student class projects?

Tackling problems that have been stagnant due to lack of resources

Most companies have projects or equipment sitting in the corner for months or years at a time, often neglected in favor of devoting more resources to larger or more valuable projects. Many of these projects are very important projects, but just don’t make it to the top of the priority list. These types of projects often make excellent and challenging student class projects. As an industry partner and supporter of Purdue programs, we invite and encourage you to examine your development needs and nominate topics that will keep the ball rolling on these often neglected projects while also providing valuable experience and stimulation for our students during a crucial development stage for their analytical and design abilities.

Although Purdue University’s intellectual property policy generally allows students to retain ownership of intellectual property created in their courses, the University does not interfere with a sponsor’s ability to negotiate directly with the student regarding intellectual property rights once the course has been completed.

Desired Elements of Student Class Projects: To be valuable to the learning experience of our students, student class projects should have the following characteristics:

  • Be open ended, requiring evaluation of multiple solutions
  • Be complex and challenging, requiring innovation and thinking outside the box
  • Require self-directed learning, with a scope just beyond the scope of their present courses that allows students to apply expertise in multiple functional areas
  • Require a team approach

Requirements from the sponsor:

  • Company and Project Information Form: Projects will not be considered without this form completed.
  • Minimum financial commitment of $2,500.00 (U.S. Dollars) for coverage of direct costs such as travel or database acquisition (additional costs or expense reimbursement will require approval of Sponsor in writing), and
  • Extraordinary or expensive equipment must be provided by the sponsor.

In addition, industry sponsors may take advantage of opportunities to provide active mentoring to the teams and to be part of the presentation and assessment events during the course.

Please note that Purdue University is a public institution of higher education and classrooms are open forums for discussion and presentation. Project results are typically presented to the class during and at the end of the class. For this reason, Purdue discourages sponsors from providing confidential or restricted inputs or restricting publication of outputs of student class projects. Unless otherwise agreed in writing by Purdue, we assume that all information submitted by the sponsor is unrestricted.

Project Timeline: The project timeline is available on the Purdue EMBA Active Learning Project ALP Overview posted on the Purdue EMBA website.

If you are interested in participating in a Purdue EMBA Active Learning Project, please sign this form below and email, along with the Company and Project Information Form,to Sally Meech, Director of Business Development, .

Direct costs will be billed to you by Krannert Executive Education Programs for reimbursement and/or direct payment, along with instructions for wire transfers and/or payments by check.

Your support impacts the future of Purdue students in so many ways. Because of your support, we are able to enhance the student experience and equip the next generation of scientific leaders with the resources needed to move our world forward.

Sponsor Acknowledgement

______[Insert Company Name] desires to sponsor a team for a student class project in a PurdueExecutive MBA Program, and we acknowledge we have read the project overview setting forth the standards and requirements for such projects. Once your signed acknowledgment and project descriptionhas been received, the department will receive email notification that your project has been approved or that additional information is required prior to approval by the Office of Legal Counsel.

______[Insert Company Name]Sponsor Address:

Sign:

Printed Name:

Title:

Date: