European higher education institutions have introduced a number of changes in curricula as a consequence of the Bologna process. Besides advocating the construction, in a time horizon of ten years, of a cohesive, harmonious, competitive and attractive European Higher Education that facilitated the comparability of degrees in higher education (European Ministers of Education, 1999; Eurydice, 2010), the Bologna Process also implies changes in the educational paradigm: a new kind of education, focusing on acquiring and developing skills by active involvement of students in the learning process. Several reasons can be called upon when discussing the need to shift from traditional learning to student centered learning in higher education, as for example, the need for learning to be aimed at professional practice, to foster critical thinking, student autonomy, creativity and the importance of developing active and deep learning (Helle et al., 2006).

In this way, a "new" philosophy of teaching is needed, requiring a different role from teachers and students, and consequently, different teaching, learning and assessment practices which should be student centered. Project-Based Learning (PBL) is an active learning approach that is aligned to the main trends of the Bologna process. Although its increasing developments and recent widespread implementation, PBL's origin can be found in the ideas of John Dewey (1916) who emphasizes the preparation of students for active participation of students in all aspects of democratic life. He defends the interaction between a learner and his environment in e meaningful way. Kilpatrick (1918) argues that education should be purposeful “(…) Education based on the purposeful act prepares best for life while at the same time it constitutes the present worthy life itself” (Kilpatrick, 1918, p. 323).

Sharing these same beliefs on teaching and learning, a group of teachers at the University of Minho selected this approach to be included in their courses, looking forward to change teaching and learning practices in order to meet the demands of the Bologna process and improve student learning and teaching practices. The PBL approach followed the Project Led Engineering Education (PLEE) model developed by Powell & Weenk (2003). The key features of the project based approach aim at fostering student-centeredness, teamwork, interdisciplinarity, development of critical thinking and competencies related to interpersonal communication and project management. By learning through projects and teamwork, students move from merely listening and reading about abstract concepts to working with their teammates in applying those concepts in order to solve real-world problems.

In this context, PBL constitutes an opportunity for teachers to reflect on their teaching philosophy (Atkinson, 2000), clarifying their own beliefs about teaching, learning and assessment in higher education.  

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