A group of students working in Costa Rica

Current Issue

Alumni Survey Confirms Value of Project-Based Learning

Data from a recent alumni survey prove that working on multiple hands-on projects throughout a college career equips students with valuable skills that contribute to their personal and professional success and resilience for years to come. The results provide further evidence to support WPI’s unparalleled approach to project-based learning.

Responses from more than 2,200 alumni who graduated from WPI between 1980 and 2019 confirm that required experiential learning opportunities, whether completed on or off campus, prime students to develop the leadership, teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills that are in high demand in today’s workplaces, communities, and everyday life.

“WPI’s transformative project-based learning model provides an experience that prepares students to work as a team, think critically, communicate, collaborate, see the world from different cultural perspectives, and be motivated to address problems that truly matter to society,” says President Grace Wang. “Technological advances, in many ways, have elevated the importance of these skills. WPI’s unique education equips students to be knowledge-ready, job-ready, and future career-ready.”

Ninety-four percent of survey respondents said their formal project experience at WPI enhanced their ability to develop ideas. In addition, 93 percent said it enhanced their ability to effectively function on a team, and 88 percent said their projects contributed to the development of a stronger personal character.

“Projects give students experience dealing with ambiguity, learning how to learn, and developing a sense of agency to handle open-ended challenging situations. In today’s world, that may be the best thing higher ed can provide students,” says Kris Wobbe, director of the Center for Project-Based Learning.

These benefits from project-based learning position students well for success in the current job market. According to the American Association of Colleges and Universities, employers today are looking
to hire candidates who excel in skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving, ethical judgment, and applying knowledge in real-world settings.

An infographic showing highlighted results of the survey

These are exactly the skills that WPI alumni say they learned through the hands-on projects they participated in as undergraduate students. A full 95 percent of respondents said their project experience at WPI prepared them for their current career and nearly all respondents also reported feeling a sense of professional satisfaction.

Project-based learning has been woven into the fabric of WPI’s curriculum since 1970. That’s when the university’s leaders threw out the traditional lecture-heavy curriculum and replaced it with a model, known as the WPI Plan, prioritizing active, hands-on learning.

While alumni in every demographic category reported personal and professional gains resulting from project-based learning, data show that women in particular benefit from WPI’s approach: 87 percent of survey respondents who identify as women reported that project work helped them feel that their own ideas were valuable.