Essential competencies for engineers from the perspective of fresh graduates

Abstract

Determining the competencies required for engineering programmes has become important due to the increasing challenges faced by engineers after graduation and the tremendous development in technology. This research aims to identify the general competencies that fresh graduate students of engineering schools in Jordan believe they need to become competent and effective in their profession as engineers. This study was the first of its kind with students as respondents, and it was the first study of this kind in Jordan. Competencies were collected from a previous study with 48 competencies split into 11 groups. A questionnaire was prepared with these competencies, then rated for the degree of importance by answering “What engineering competencies graduates will require for their future work in Jordan?” The study showed that all competencies were vital, including technical, personal, non-technical and attitudinal competencies. This study will help to link the outputs of university education provided by engineering departments with market needs as well as to harmonise study programmes offered by Jordanian universities. Also, the research outputs are expected to facilitate the transition process of students from one university to another. The empirically identified competencies could be used to help assess different engineering study programmes in Jordan.

Undergraduate students’ perceptions of the development of generic competences and their relevance to the engineering profession

“…Collaboration and teamworking, as well as managing and leading emerged as the mostrelevant competences within the eight groups of categories of generic competences cited by students enrolled in an elective leadership course as important for the development of their professional career. The combination of teamwork and adequate communication skills was seen as having priority among the competences that a naval engineer should master, affirming the results of previous studies (Male et al, 2011;Suleiman & Abahre, 2020). However, using authority, respect and compromise when working in teams was considered less important, in contrast to a study by Newport and Elms (1997).…”

“…Other studies have identified leadership-related competences such as leading, coordinating and supervising (Suleiman & Abahre, 2020). However, our findings specifically add the importance of leadership style when using personal resources to adapt to different situations, thus contributing to the significance of working on leadership-style adaptation and behaviours in the engineering profession.…”

“…Self-criticism as an analytical competence was not directly noted in other study findings (Suleiman & Abahre, 2020;Male et al, 2011) and was mostly related to the individual capacity to manage one's performance, such as expanding skills (Passow & Passow, 2017). Decision-making was also depicted as needing improvement, coupled with needs for improvements in personal attributes such as security and collaboration competence such as attitude.…”

“…For instance, the characteristics of an effective engineer are linked with the ability to work well under pressure, leadership skills and interpersonal abilities, among others (Newport & Elms, 1997). Some authors agree on the relevance of generic competences for engineers, such as problem-solving, creative thinking and adaptation, communication and listening skills, teamwork, innovation and motivation, as well as professional attitudes and business, technical and expanding skills (Archanjo de Souza et al, 2020;Male et al, 2011;Passow & Passow, 2017;Suleiman & Abahre, 2020). However, skills such as professional and ethical responsibility were perceived as less relevant for students compared to teamwork, oral communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and self-management (Chan & Fong, 2018).…”

Teaching Foresight and Futures Literacy and Its Integration into University Curriculum

“…The authors of the article understand competences as the knowledge and skills that are indispensable for carrying out specific tasks in an effective way [Volpentesta, Felicetti, 2011;Gudanowska et al, 2020]. In line with [Suleiman, Abahre, 2020], the authors of the article perceive competences as personal dispositional capabilities used to act successfully in new situations. The literature review implies that a multitude of competences are considered essential or at least useful for future-oriented entrepreneurs.…”