Soft Skills Education is Valuable—Perception of Engineering Students

Abstract

Contribution: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of a dedicated soft skills (SSs) course in an electrical engineering (EE) undergraduate program, showing improvements in students’ appreciation and satisfaction of expressing most of these skills.Background: SSs, encompassing interpersonal and social competencies, are important for career success in engineering. However, these skills are often overlooked or only indirectly addressed in EE curricula. This study addresses the need for intentional SSs development in EE education, with potential implications for engineering programs worldwide.Research Questions: How does a dedicated SSs course affect EE students’ perception of the importance of these skills?Does such a course improve students’ satisfaction with their ability to express these skills?Methodology: A dedicated SSs course was designed and implemented for undergraduate EE students. The course explicitly focused on developing teamwork, time management, written and oral communication, and implicitly addressed several other skills. Students’ perceptions of the importance of SSs and their satisfaction with expressing these skills were assessed at the beginning and end of the course using a questionnaire.Findings: While students recognized the importance of SSs before the course, their appreciation for these skills’ contribution to job-seeking and career success increased after completing the course. More significantly, students reported higher levels of satisfaction in expressing several of the targeted skills by the end of the course. These results, though limited to a single course at one institution, suggest the value of incorporating dedicated SSs development into EE curricula.