Undergraduate Civil Engineering Students’ Perspectives on Skills for Future Success

Abstract

This full research paper explores undergraduate construction and civil engineering (CCE) students’ perspectives on the skills they need to be successful in their future careers. Previous research has identified important outcomes and attributes for engineering students to inform curriculum development. However, discrepancies between skills emphasized in the curriculum and those valued in industry have been reported. This potential disconnection raises questions regarding what students are trained to prioritize through their formal education and professional socialization, which has implications for their workforce development. This study explores what skills students believe they need and how/where they learned the importance of these skills. This work aims to connect these perspectives with those expressed by industry. The theoretical framework underpinning this research is a set of competencies that recent graduates need when entering the workforce, as identified by experienced professionals in CCE.This study employed a qualitative approach to explore student perceptions through semi-structured interviews. In 2019, 13 undergraduate CCE students at four U.S.A. institutions completed an interview. The transcripts were analyzed with a combination of inductive and deductive coding.At least one participant described 15 of the 19 competencies included in the guiding framework. The greatest number of students identified Communication, Humility, and Teamwork as important for success in their future field. Emergent competencies were Personal Persistence and Passion for Work. Students expressed that they primarily learned the importance of these skills and practiced them in internships and out-of-class activities. Although a few participants mentioned the classroom, the results indicate an opportunity for engineering educators to better emphasize these competencies in their courses and provide opportunities to foster their development. This research contributes an understanding of where expectations of students already align with industry perspectives, what gaps still need to be closed, and how engineering educators can help prepare students for the realties of the workforce.