2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Defining student success post-graduation is complex, taking many forms. Some are more quantitative, such as degree completion rates and assessment grades. Others are more qualitative but no less important, including developing healthy relationships, personal growth and development, and new skills gained both in and out of the classroom. The ultimate test of student success is how well a student is able to adapt to their new environment upon graduation, whether it be industry, graduate school, research, or entrepreneurial.
Despite the complexity, identifying activities that directly contribute to setting up students up for success after graduation is crucial in higher education. The Institute of Engineering and Technology reports that up to half of engineering students graduate without enough of the technical or interpersonal skills required by potential employers. This could be contributing to the fact that between 30% to 50% of engineering students end up in careers outside of their field. Therefore, one of these defined activities can be ensuring that students are exposed to and are familiar with the skills and software tools they are likely to encounter post-graduation.
With the growing intricacies of engineering challenges, incorporating simulation techniques has become increasingly vital. With companies looking to reduce costs, time and materials to innovate and solve problems simulation is essential.
The Academic team at Ansys works collaboratively with academics across the world to help them update their curriculum to include the industry standard simulation tools that students are likely to encounter after graduating. This paper presents the Ansys Funded Curriculum Program which was started in 2022 with a goal of lowering the barriers to implementation of simulation based courses by providing grants through a competitive proposal process.
Within the first two years of implementation, the impact of the program has been evident. Over 80% of students believed that the tools would be useful to them in their future careers, they also agreed that the tools had helped them to better understand the course material. This paper will discuss insights into the program’s design, including key partnerships, statistical outcomes and some success stories.