CDIO Initiative


CDIO are trademarked initials for Conceive Design Implement Operate. The CDIO Initiative is an educational framework that stresses engineering fundamentals set in the context of conceiving, designing, implementing and operating real-world systems and products. Throughout the world, CDIO Initiative collaborators have adopted CDIO as the framework of their curricular planning and outcome-based assessment. The CDIO approach uses active learning tools, such as group projects and problem-based learning, to better equip engineering students with technical knowledge as well as communication and professional skills. Additionally, the CDIO Initiative provides resources for instructors of member universities to improve their teaching abilities.

Concept

The CDIO concept was originally conceived at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 1990s. In 2000, MIT in collaboration with three Swedish universities — Chalmers University of Technology, Linköping University and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology — formally founded the CDIO Initiative. It became an international collaboration, with universities around the world adopting the same framework.
CDIO collaborators recognize that an engineering education is acquired over a long period and in a variety of institutions, and that educators in all parts of this spectrum can learn from practice elsewhere. The CDIO network therefore welcomes members in a diverse range of institutions ranging from research-led internationally acclaimed universities to local colleges dedicated to providing students with their initial grounding in engineering.
The collaborators maintain a dialogue about what works and what does not and continue to refine the project. Determining additional members of the collaboration is a selective process managed by a Council comprising original members and early adopters.
The CDIO revised syllabus consists of four parts:
  1. Disciplinary knowledge and reasoning
  2. Personal and professional skills and attributes
  3. Interpersonal skills: teamwork and communication
  4. Conceiving, designing, implementing, and operating systems in the enterprise, societal, and environmental context
The following institutions collaborate in the CDIO initiative:
Australia
  • Chisholm Institute, Centre for Integrated Engineering & Science
  • Curtin University
  • Queensland University of Technology
  • RMIT University
  • University of Sydney
  • University of the Sunshine Coast
Brasil
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  • Centro Universitário Salesiano de São Paulo
  • Instituto Militar de Engenharia
  • Universidade Federal de Santa Maria
  • Centro Universitário do Estado do Pará - CESUPA
Belgium
  • Hogeschool Gent
  • Group T - International University College Leuven
Canada
  • École Polytechnique de Montréal
  • Queen's University, Ontario
  • Sheridan College
  • University of Calgary
  • University of Manitoba
Chile
  • Catholic University of the Holy Conception
  • University of Chile
  • University of Los Lagos
  • University of Santiago, Chile
China
Colombia
  • ICESI University
  • National University of Colombia
  • Pontifical Xavierian University
  • University of Antioquia
  • University of Santo Tomas
  • University of Quindío
Denmark
  • Aalborg University
  • Aarhus University
  • Technical University of Denmark
Finland
  • Lahti University of Applied Sciences
  • Lapland University of Applied Sciences
  • Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
  • Novia University of Applied Sciences
  • Savonia University of Applied Sciences
  • Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences
  • Tampere University of Applied Sciences
  • Turku University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Turku
France
  • CESI group
  • IMT Atlantique
Germany
  • Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena
  • Hochschule Wismar, University of Applied Sciences Technology, Business and Design
  • RWTH Aachen University
Honduras
  • Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana UNITEC
Iceland
  • Reykjavík University
India
  • Vel Tech University
Indonesia
  • Politeknik Negeri Batam
Ireland
  • Trinity College, Dublin
  • University of Limerick
Israel
Italy
  • Politecnico di Milano
Japan
  • Hokkaido Information University
  • Kanazawa Institute of Technology
  • Kanazawa Technical College
  • National Institute of Technology, Anan College
  • National Institute of Technology, Kisarazu College
Malaysia
  • Ungku Omar Polytechnic
  • Ibrahim Sultan Polytechnic
  • Taylor's University
  • Universiti Teknologi MARA
Mongolia
Netherlands
New Zealand
  • University of Auckland
Norway
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • Østfold University College
Philippines
  • Bulacan State University
  • University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines
  • Batangas State University
Poland
  • Gdańsk University of Technology
Portugal
  • Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto
Russia
  • Astrakhan State University
  • Bauman Moscow State Technical University
  • Cherepovets State University
  • Don State Technical University
  • Kazan Federal University
  • Moscow Aviation Institute
  • Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
  • National Research Nuclear University MEPhI
  • North-Eastern Federal University
  • Orel State University
  • Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation
  • Siberian Federal University
  • Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology
  • Tomsk Polytechnic University
  • Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics
  • Ural Federal University
Singapore
  • Nanyang Polytechnic
  • Singapore Polytechnic
South Africa
  • University of Johannesburg
  • University of Pretoria
South Korea
  • Inje University
Spain
Sweden
  • Blekinge Institute of Technology
  • Chalmers University of Technology
  • Jönköping School of Engineering
  • Kristianstad University
  • Linköping University
  • Linnaeus University
  • Luleå University of Technology
  • Royal Institute of Technology
  • Umeå Institute of Technology
  • University of Skövde
  • University West
Taiwan
  • Feng Chia University
Thailand
  • Chulalongkorn University
  • Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi
Tunisia
  • École supérieure privée d'ingénierie et de technologie
Turkmenistan
United Kingdom
  • England
  • *Aston University
  • *Lancaster University
  • *Nottingham Trent University
  • *University of Bristol
  • *University of Chichester
  • *University of Hertfordshire
  • *University of Leeds
  • *University of Leicester
  • *University of Liverpool
  • Scotland
  • *University of Strathclyde
  • Northern Ireland
  • *Queen's University Belfast
  • *South Eastern Regional College
  • *Ulster University
United States of America
  • Arizona State University
  • California State University, Northridge
  • Duke University
  • Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Naval Postgraduate School
  • Pennsylvania State University
  • Stanford University
  • U.S. Naval Academy
  • University of Arkansas
  • University of Colorado
  • University of Michigan
  • University of Notre Dame-College of Engineering
Vietnam
  • Dalat University
  • Duy Tan University
  • Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City
  • Vinh University

    Literature

CDIO currently has two guide books: Rethinking Engineering Education and Think Like an Engineer.