**2. Features of Engineering Education 5.0 and modern PBL**

Engineering Education 5.0, according to its seminal publication [9], should be characterized by 16 interwoven key features listed in **Figure 1**. Some of these attributes have been also mentioned off late in relevant reports focusing on engineering education trends [11–13], which explain educational methodologies and learning styles quite connected to Education 5.0.

In the author's opinion, modern PBL should take account of these key features, to keep pace with the continuous evolutions within Engineering Education 5.0. At the same time modern PBL, built upon these elements, may liberate engineering programmes from the usually fixed frameworks and let them endlessly change, while supporting and mentoring the technological advances of Industry 5.0 for the successful construction of Society 5.0. Arguably, transforming PBL with Engineering Education 5.0 in mind, may turn out to be a very adequate strategy for empowering and deploying the technological revolutions ahead, whose positive industrial, economic, and social impacts can be essential. Counting with engineering education as one of the more relevant drivers of social change is always rewarding.

**Figure 2**, in alignment with other studies focused on strategies for the design and implementation of successful and transformative PBL [14–16], presents a selection of good practices for adjusting PBL methods to better consider the different pivotal aspects of Engineering Education 5.0. For instance, modern PBL in the Engineering Education 5.0 paradigm should change dynamically, evolving with technologies, as the state-of-the-art rapidly flows. To this end, annual modifications to the projects' topics present a double intention: on the one hand keeping the PBL experiences alive, helping students to focus on avant-garde techniques and methods; on the other, avoiding malpractice and copying or taking too much inspiration from previous years' results. Besides, modularity and flexibility are necessary for promoting resource-effective and personalized education and for swiftly spreading PBL across engineering programmes and universities. These aspects can benefit from counting with a fundamental or core module (i.e., engineering design methodologies for innovative product development), which may be central to different


#### **Figure 1.**

*The 16 interwoven key features of Engineering Education 5.0.*

#### **Figure 2.**

*Summary of good practices for incorporating the key features of Engineering Education 5.0 to modern PBL.*

#### *Engineering Education 5.0: Strategies for a Successful Transformative Project-Based Learning DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102844*

experiences and degrees. A combination of basic and specialization modules can foster fruitful adaptation of PBL to a wide set of programmes.

Other interesting good practices deal with making PBL more holistic, taking inspiration from the engineers of the Renaissance, putting ethics in the foreground, better synergizing with key stakeholders and society, increasing societal impacts and making education more equitable. The hybridization of project-based learning and service learning [17], intensive use of e-Twinning and e-/b-/m-learning methods for supporting an affordable internationalization and for taking benefit from diversity [18], the employment of artificial intelligence tools for supporting educational practice [19] or resorting to open-source software and hardware resources [20], are also relevant strategies with synergic effects.

Ideally, through their projects, students learn how to transform society taking benefit from the ongoing technological revolutions and focusing on real needs and unsolved or partially solved societal problems. During the process, they learn to learn, feel more responsible for their learning, take decisions along a plethora of elective PBL experiences, which helps to personalize education, communicate and celebrate their results, and enjoy the process of becoming engineers. Sharing of methods and experiences, in the project-based learning field, is also fundamental towards high-quality engineering education for all.
