Graduate success attributes for engineering students: Major learning outcomes and significance of the course

Abstract

Studies have shown that many university graduates have problems in generic skills such as communication and problem solving. To tackle the issue, a course called Graduate Success Attributes (GSA) is introduce by a public university in Malaysia as a general course. Nonetheless, there were questions regarding students’ acceptance to the course because it is new and is compulsory for all students. Not all of them know about the course or have the interest in learning it. To date, no studies on the significance of the course from engineering students’ perspectives has been carried out. Thus, a need of study to determine the significance. In the implementation, the study adopts a qualitative approach. Data sources include students’ mid-semester reflections to get an in-depth thinking of the students regarding the course. Open coding strategies were utilized to analyze the data. This study has found that all students had primarily learned about communication skills, especially speaking skills. They perceived activities during the class especially public speaking as a good platform to build their communication skills thus their confidence. Besides, almost all students had highly valued the course due to the ways of delivery and the impact of the instructor's personalities. Discussion includes the implications of the study.