Integrating General Education Courses into Engineering Curriculum

Abstract

General Education Courses (GEC) are natural sources of “soft” skills in engineering curricula. Such skills are becoming increasingly important if the graduates are to operate successfully and be fully integrated in their workplaces. The importance of “soft” skills is fully recognized by engineering accreditation boards. The chapter reports on the engineering students’ reactions to the introduction of GEC at the University of Botswana (UB). The position of engineering students’ on the issue of GEC is not very clear. The questionnaire administered to final year students in all engineering programmes at UB gave a mixed response. On average, there were 25% neutral answers to the questions in the survey. The fact that on average one quarter of all graduating engineers did not have an opinion about GEC and their implementation was very disappointing and showed the general problem of students not being interested in that area of their study. The survey showed that students were not fully convinced that GEC were either important or relevant to their future career. The fundamental question on whether GEC were a necessary part of engineering programme brought almost an equal split between positive, negative, and neutral answers, with a slight advantage of positive answers (37%) over negative ones (33%). The students were equally split (36% positive and negative answers) on the question of whether GEC were relevant to their career paths. A small majority were of the opinion that GEC should not be retained. As it is critical that elements of general education are retained in the engineering curriculum, it is necessary to convince the students of the importance of those elements of the study. An effective advisory students’ system is recommended starting with general discussions on engineering practice within departments led by senior members of staff. Also, an introductory course in engineering or any course directly dealing with engineering practice is recommended.