Myth-busters at work: Development of Engineering Identity and Employability through Student Research

Abstract

[EN] For many (aspiring) engineering students, the prevalent image of engineering identity is still unilaterally dominated by technical skills. This bias serves not only to dissuade female prospective students but also to erode student motivation for non-technical courses such as communication and other employability skills. As an unfortunate result, also for the employer, many starting engineers experience a gap between their own and the workplace’s expectations. This paper reports on a didactic approach that has the students actively research the workplace realities, and more particularly the importance of communication skills as perceived by professional engineers. On the basis of their own, partly self-directed research efforts, students uniformly conclude that communication skills are in fact of great importance for engineers. The indisputable scientific evidence, both quantitative and qualitative, that they gather themselves turns out to be a powerful incentive for students to recalibrate their understanding of engineering identity.