A scoping review of professional skills development in engineering education from 1980–2020

Abstract

Engineering students are expected to develop their professional skills throughout the course of their degrees. Yet, there is no clear consensus among educators of which skills are being developed or how this is done effectively. This scoping review has been produced to draw together and disseminate information on effective techniques for developing six specific professional skills (communication, teamwork, problem solving, leadership, project management and entrepreneurship) and tracing the evolution of these skills in engineering education. Using search engines and backwards and forwards snowballing, a scoping literature review on skills development in engineering was conducted, encompassing a 40-year time span (1980–2020). Specified search terms, and inclusion criteria were applied, and findings have been presented quantitatively and qualitatively. In total, 165 studies were included. Key findings indicate skills are more nuanced and accepted today than they were in 1980, with an increased focus on specific skill areas. Additionally, more sophisticated integrated delivery methods are used to teach skills, although short courses remain popular. By synthesising data in this way, professional educators can identify what skill areas to focus on, and how to teach these skills for effective development among students. Gaps in knowledge are also identified through this review. This study is significant in that it has created an exceptionally useful roadmap of skills development, which is of benefit to the engineering community and beyond.

Keywords:

• Professional skills
• student experience
• scoping review
• teaching strategies
• undergraduate and postgraduate education

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Stephen Darwin
• Universidad Alberto Hurtado
• Chile

SUBJECTS:

• Higher Education
• Teaching & Learning
• Study Skills
• Curriculum Studies

Notes

1 The use of individual keywords such as teamwork, leadership, professional skills, skills development produced an unmanageable quantity of data so a specific search string was utilised instead.

2 Technological proficiency also means that some skills of the past might be considered tools in the current climate.

3 Followed by ‘… skills in engineering education’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Deesha Chadha

Deesha Chadha is a Senior Strategic Teaching Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. Prior to that she was the academic lead of two faculty development programmes at King's College London. She completed both her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and her PhD in engineering education at the University of Surrey.

Jerry Y. Y. Heng

Jerry Y. Y. Heng is a Professor of Particle Science and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. He obtained his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and completed his doctoral work at Imperial College London.