The engineering industry has changed in the last decades with the increasing complexity of technology, the global mobility of the engineering profession, the concern with sustainability and social responsibility, and the need for innovation and creativity. This shift has caused employability issues that include both the lack of engineering graduates available for recruitment and graduates equipped with the necessary set of transversal competencies. One of the efforts to produce engineering graduates ready for the labour market was the emphasis on transversal competencies. They have been highlighted in the Boeing list of “Desired Attributes of Engineer” and by the accreditation bodies in the United States of America and Europe. The focus shifted from only technical competencies to including also the transversal competencies in the field of engineering education around the world. Although engineering curricula have expanded curricular and pedagogical arrangements to include transversal competencies to prepare graduates for employment, there is still a gap between what engineering education provides to students and what employers desire from engineering graduates. Employer’s feel students lack transversal competencies such as communication, interpersonal, management and team working skills. The emphasis on the inclusion of transversal competencies has triggered the need for instruments that could measure and assess these competencies or their perceptions, or even to trigger reflection on these competencies. However measuring transversal competencies or their perceptions is considered difficult because of the lack of consensus on the transversal competency definitions between engineering educators, government bodies and employers, the overwhelming lists of transversal competencies created by universities and non-academic establishments with different terminologies and without collaborations between these parties, and finally the nature of transversal competencies which often are intertwined with the technical competencies and can also be acquired outside of the curriculum. The research presented in this thesis contributes to the measurement of perceptions of transversal competencies, and practice and reflection on transversal competencies in the field of engineering education. This work is part of the PREFER (Professional Roles and Employability of Future EngineeRs) project, which was a European project that started in 2017 to reduce the transversal competency gap in the field of engineering and to increase the employability of future engineers… @en

The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the state-of-the-art of competency measurement methods with an aim to inform the creation of reliable and valid measures of student mastery of competencies in communication, lifelong learning, innovation/creativity and teamwork in engineering education. We identified 99 studies published in three databases over the last 17 years. For each study, purpose, corresponding methods, criteria used to establish competencies, and validity and reliability properties were evaluated. This analysis identified several measurement methods of which questionnaires and rubrics were the most used. Many measurement methods were found to lack competency definitions and evidence of validity and reliability. These show a clear need for establishing professional standards when measuring mastery of competencies. Therefore, in this paper, we propose guidelines for the design of reliable and valid measurement methods to be used by educators and researchers.@en

Although accreditation bodies emphasise communication competencies development in engineering curricula due to its importance for future engineers, the focus is often mainly on oral presentation and written reports. A communication activity was created to practice and reflect on students’ communication competencies including describing information in a short time, listening skills, and ask and respond to questions. This activity was implemented at five different European engineering universities involving 393 students. This study explores the effectiveness of this activity as a case-study of game-based learning to practise and reflect on engineering students’ communication competencies. A mixed-method approach measuring students’ communication performance, their perceived communication competencies, and the benefits of this activity to students was used to explore the game characteristics that make the activity effective. The findings of the scoring rubric and the questionnaire used showed that this activity is effective. Because it is engaging and set by rules, students actively participated during the activity, reflected on their effective and ineffective communication competencies, the existing communication barriers and styles, gained awareness, experienced communication in teams, and cooperated with different people. This study highlights the effectiveness of a small intervention using a proven communication activity, which is freely available as OpenCourseWare through TU Delft for anyone to use.@en

Contribution: This study reports on a reliable and valid instrument that measures engineering students' perceptions of their competency levels. A better understanding of students' needs in engineering curricula will support the development of engineering students' transversal competencies. Background: Prior research has investigated how engineering students perceive competency levels in transversal competencies. However, limitations in the competency definition, psychometric properties, and generalizability were found. Research questions: 1) What is the reliability and validity of the competency level instrument? and 2) what are the transversal competency level perceptions of engineering Bachelor and Master students? Methodology: A questionnaire consisting of 36 transversal competencies was designed based on an existing industry model and administered to 1087 engineering Bachelor and Master students from the University of Technology, The Netherlands. Validity and reliability were tested through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Cronbach's alpha. Findings: EFA resulted in five scales with reliable Cronbach's alpha values. CFA demonstrated a good model fit for the five-factor model with 25 items. Students perceived they are most competent in teamwork and lifelong learning competencies and less competent in entrepreneurial competencies.@en

To assist in resolving the perceived lack of transversal competencies (TCs) of engineering graduates by industry, this study investigates the characteristics of transforming an existing industry TC instrument for use in engineering education. The instrument consists of 36 nuanced sub-competencies with the corresponding definitions and descriptive mastery levels. This instrument was first used to determine required TCs mastery levels for BSc and MSc graduates by European industry and subsequently, using two representative curricula as case studies to map TCs course outcomes and lecturer perceptions of TCs course outcomes, using interviews for further exploration. The main findings are that the TC instrument is suitable to determine desired industry mastery levels as well as to map TCs course outcomes both in formal documentation and by lecturers. Also, a gap between the formal and perceived curriculum was found i.e. discrepancies in reported TC learning outcomes between formal documentation and lecturer-reported TCs in courses.@en

Although there is high degree of agreement on the importance of transversal skills for engineers, employers observe a significant gap between expectations and reality. This paper discusses the need for the development of a framework of professional roles for future engineers and the implementation of dedicated skills education in engineering curricula to train students for this role. Based on an extensive literature study, an overview is given of previous research on this topic. The paper also outlines the next steps that will be taken by the authors as part of a European project PREFER to develop and implement these roles in engineering education. Conference Key Areas: Continuing Engineering Education and Lifelong Learning; Skills and Engineering Education; Curriculum Development@en

The urgency to stimulate transversal competencies is evident and acknowledged by accreditation commissions and institutions. For this reason, higher engineering education has developed practices and implemented in the engineering curricula elements that stimulate these competencies. However, educators find difficulties in developing and implementing them due to lack of time or experience, space in the degrees, or lack of institution support. This study describes a communication activity created and implemented over three engineering education institutions as part of a European knowledge alliance project and presents the values and challenges experienced by the universities after its implementation. Students carried out a short questionnaire at the end of the activity and the data from the three institutions were compared. The findings of this study showed that students perceived that this communication activity helped them to understand the importance of communication skills, and because of its nature of plug and play it was easily transferable to the three universities. This study provides educators with a new educational practice easy to implement and effective to stimulate student reflection on their communication skills.@en

The importance of which transversal competencies, a collective term for non-technical competencies such as problem-solving and communication skills, are required for student success in the labor market has been studied. There is no doubt that students need transversal competencies for professional practice. However, little is known about the specific competency level that graduates should hold after completion of their Bachelor or Master in Engineering. To investigate graduates’ competency levels, this article reports on the design, development, and results of an industry questionnaire, which studies the perception of industry representatives in Europe of the competency levels that Bachelor and Master engineering graduates should hold after graduation. A total of 28 representatives who work in the engineering industry and who recruit or work with recently graduated engineers responded. Industry representatives were given a list of 36 competencies and were asked to select the most important competencies and the competency level they perceive students should have after completion of their Bachelor and Master degree for each. Significant differences were found between the required competency levels for Bachelor and Master graduates. Industry representatives perceived that Master graduates require mostly advance level (as opposed to a lower level for bachelor graduates) for competencies such as risk tolerance, problem-solving, listening skills, writing skills, interdisciplinary thinking, strengths/weaknesses awareness, and actively seeking learning. These findings were unaffected by years of work experience of the industry respondents or their company size. The findings of this study help higher education institutions, employers and lecturers to stimulate the development of competencies required by industry. More specifically, they will be used as a starting point for developing and implementing curriculum elements aimed at enhancing competency levels of students at a Dutch university of technology and its European partners in the European project funding this research. @en

Engineering education has recognised that engineering graduates require transversal competencies like communication, teamwork and problem-solving alongside technical competencies. The importance of transversal competencies has grown and curriculum elements have been implemented to stimulate these competencies. However, a gap still exists between what education provides and practice requires. To reduce this gap and increase engineering student’s employability, lecturers need to expose students to transversal competencies and allow them to practice them throughout the curriculum. For the purpose to stimulate the development of students’ transversal competencies necessary to engineering careers, a week-long style boot camp course was designed and implemented at the Delft University of Technology. In this study, a pre and post-questionnaire and a reflection were administered to students to evaluate the transversal competencies encountered and acquired by the students during the course, their engineering role awareness and course efficacy. Findings revealed that students improve in their transversal competencies including presentation skills, interdisciplinary thinking, innovation and creativity, and professional engineering role knowledge during the course. However, improvements in the attracting of students to the course and specification of the assignment need to be addressed for the next run of this course scheduled for next year. Lecturers are encouraged to implement authentic learning experiences like this, as these experiences provide students with awareness and practice of the engineering roles and stimulate students’ transversal competency development necessary to be successful in those roles. @en

As the field of Engineering Education Research is maturing, more and more literature on Engineering Education is becoming available. Combined with increasing digitization and data analysis possibilities in the area of educational research literature, as well as a trend towards requiring more transparent and reproducible literature studies, researchers are required to adopt new and different approaches towards literature studies and reviews. Some examples of the different types are the systematic review, the critical review and the literature overview. This paper intends to assist engineering education researchers by outlining a typology of different literature review types within the field of engineering education research. This typology is based on an elaborate analysis of published literature studies in 3 leading engineering education journals, the IEEE transactions on education, EJEE and JEE, making use of the SALSA Framework (Search, AppraisaL, Synthesis and Analysis) based on a SCOPUS search. A similar method has previously been successfully employed when creating a literature typology in health research by Booth and Grant in 2009 [1]. The characteristics of each typology will be described and suitable and relevant examples of each typology will be given. The outcomes presented in this paper will provide engineering education researchers with a valuable resource to conduct, inform, interpret and guide literature studies in their field.@en

The globalization and the great change in technology of the 1990’s brought a particular importance in developing transversal competences (Shuman, 2005). ERI-Net defined transversal competences as “skills, values and attitudes that are required for learners’ holistic development and for learners to become capable of adapting to change” (Care 2016), for instance communication skills, teamwork, and innovative thinking. Although there is high degree of agreement on the importance of the transversal competences, employers observe a significant discrepancy between the preparation of graduate students and the academic work and the labour market. In this study, some curriculum elements are proposed to integrate the curriculum of aerospace engineering (AE) Master students at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and a measurement tool is developed to measure the competence level of engineering students.@en

Most studies in engineering education focus on the effectiveness of the teaching interventions and what transversal competencies engineering students gain from those interventions immediately after they take place. This study explores the effectiveness of an existing game-based learning activity and the competency retention of the participating students one year after its implementation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to nine students who participated in the activity at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. The findings showed that students remembered and benefited from the activity. This exploratory study indicated that this activity is valid to retain students transversal competencies because it provides active learning, engagement, rules, risk-taking, cooperation and competition, and it can be plugged-and-played in any engineering context. This study encourages researchers in the field of engineering education to conduct transversal competency retention studies, which are fundamental to understand how the teaching practices shape students’ competencies in the period after their participation.@en