Abstract:

This paper presents global and local nets of knowledge available for engineering students and describes the new contribution to the local net of knowledge at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of West Bohemia (UWB). The Professionals’ Projects Database (PPD) consists of real design projects created by local engineering companies in cooperation with academics to provide a source of engineering know-how to engineering students at UWB. The Engineering Tools Support Database (ETS) contains learning materials for the most sophisticated Computer-aided engineering (CAE) systems as they have become the main tools of the design engineer. Nowadays, design engineers are expected to master several CAE systems, which is a challenging task for students as well as for the tutors. The step-by-step learning materials provided by ETS promote self-study and make learning CAE systems much easier.