In the last decades, the industry has experienced its rapid growth in technologies implemented. This conditioned the development of corresponding science and technology competences in specialists who join industry workforce. Currently university researchers and academia are not simply informed of these changes; the university develops demanded professional competences and generic skills in its engineering programmes` graduates. Thus university teaching and learning experience changes. Practical hands-on activities preoccupy students` study time since the very first days at the university. Building and designing something tangible becomes the core of the curriculum for engineering baccalaureate students. Tomsk polytechnic university (TPU) provides students studying physics at the university with practice-based training in project work. Students are engaged into research training project solving a real problem thus enabling the project to transform into real research and development project. TPU educational practice is supported by the methodology system and bank of problems developed by TPU academics. TPU training discussed in this paper demonstrated its efficiency. TPU experience in project based training can be implemented in other universities that offer practical training to its students studying physics.