Using successful graduates to improve the quality of undergraduate engineering programmes

Abstract

This paper reports on a study of engineering graduates identified as high performers by their work supervisors. The study involved 20 graduates from different universities working in seven companies covering electrical, civil, mechanical, telecommunications and environmental engineering. The aim of the study was to identify the capabilities that were seen to be most important for successful engineering practice during the first few years after graduation, and to evaluate the extent to which universities were typically developing these capabilities. The reported study is a pilot for a larger scale study of a number of professional disciplines which will be used to shape the ongoing evolution of the undergraduate programmes in these disciplines at UTS. The results reaffirm the fact that while technical expertise is a necessary capability for successful practice it is certainly not sufficient. A range of 'emotional intelligence' capabilities appears to be judged by graduates and their supervisors alike as being very significant success factors. By focusing on the entire undergraduate experience rather than just what is taught, course designers can do much to provide learning opportunities to develop the capabilities identified.