I agree that only the course tutor can really judge what's appropriate to the course requirements.
Anyway I think the nature of the course that should affect the selection of the project. If the course is an Electronics Engg Degree course, I think the course tutor may want to see more hardware stuffs. So digital PID controller, high speed graphic controller using FPGA/CPLD with VHDL may be required. But if it is a computer course that biased in software design, may be programming technique and the organization of development skill may be more important.
Well for a final year project, I don't think the requirement is just to turn on and turn off several LEDs. The students are expected to learn by himself to manage the things that he/she don't know. He/She may be a new brid in the stuffs when the project begin but with the help of the project supervisor, the internet ...etc., he/she will become an expert (or at least half expert) when the project completed. This is the purpose of the project!
Happy bbs'ing
73,Li.