Dual education: The win-win model of collaboration between universities and industry

The purpose of this paper is to describe the new experiences of the dual training model in engineering education in Hungary. This new model has been introduced recently in the higher education and has become a focus of interest. This is a favorable program for the students to experience the real industry environment prior to graduation and it is a good tool to motivate them to study harder. The dual education students study in the institutional academic period together with the regular full-time students at their higher education institute, and parallel to their academic education they participate in the practical training. It gives the students an opportunity to join a specific training program at an enterprise. Being involved in specific ‘operational’ practical tasks and project-oriented work enhances independent work, learning soft skills and experiencing the culture of work. Our objectives are to analyze the benefits of the dual training for all three parties: the student, the company and university. The study confirms earlier results from prior studies which show, for example, that students who choose the dual option achieve better program outcomes.