This Engineer Says the Liberal Arts are Anything but Dead
According to a Harvard Study, the best technology companies in the world have all recognized the importance of soft skills in young professionals. It is through the merging of these skills with technical knowledge that employees become successful corporate leaders.
Another study currently in the works, commissioned by our Engineering Advisory Board, (EAB) whose members include top industry leaders and academics from California in the US and Baja California in Mexico, is pointing in the same direction.
While researching the gap between current engineering graduates and the professional profile required by industry, companies were asked to identify desirable skills and knowledge.
Interestingly, the top 5 abilities had nothing to do with technical aptitudes.
It is very important, of course, that a mechanical engineer has knowledge about material and design issues, or an electronics engineer understands electronic design and circuits, but the most important skills seem to be those that are less tangible and as such, harder to teach.
Multilingual communication and presentation skills, multidisciplinary and multicultural teamwork and collaboration, conflict and stress management, as well as project management, are some of the most emphasized abilities.
The bottom line is that organizations increasingly require flexible professionals who bring solid foundations to their fields but are also able to effectively interact with others and adapt easily as lifelong learners.
What is true is that students don’t just learn these by listening to a professor in class. They need to be involved in dynamic activities through the university’s educational model that encourage them to work as a team, face challenges and find solutions.
Universities have taken notice.
Take my institution, for example. Students take a series of courses called “major design experiences” in the final year of their program where, guided by their professors, they identify a real-world issue in a company. With the organization’s endorsement and working as a team, students solve the problem and present the results as if they were a consulting team.
Through our Center for Excellence in Innovation and Design (CEID), which has a lab modeled after a shop floor, and allows for company employees to work together with students, this experience has intensified.
Future engineers also participate in national and international competitions, developing projects in multidisciplinary team settings that intersect with the organization structure of real-world companies, with tasks ranging from planning, procurement efforts, resource management, and execution. A similar approach is taken with other activities such as organizing international conferences and seminars for their peers.
In all of these extracurricular activities, faculty serve as advisors.
In the end, universities should consider the bigger picture: providing a strong technical education that delivers marketable skills and ensures employability, yes; but also educating professionals capable of being (and willing to be) an agent of change in their communities, wherever these may be.
Jorge Sosa is Dean of the College of Engineering at CETYS University
