Resumen de Imparting Soft Skills and Creativity in University Engineering Education through a Concept Designing Short Course
Kayoko Nohara, Michael I. Norton, Eriko Kawano
Universities need to add a range of soft skills to the range of technical specialities provided in engineering education torespond to demands for engineers who can solve complex problems in an international working environment, and whichrecognises social and environmental issues (and associated stakeholders). Soft skills related to creativity, communicationand teamwork abilities are often mentioned. But in addition, engineers planning to work for a company competing in theglobal market need to be aware of the increasing competition on non-performance factors incorporating artistic andaesthetic considerations into the design process. This paper describes a novel approach being used at Tokyo Institute ofTechnology by partnering with Musashino Art University to develop a ‘concept designing’ course where engineering andarts students work together in a short intensive course to develop a design based on an initial abstract concept. The 5 yearsof experience on this course allow us to assess the range of skills and experience provided against the initial objectives andstudent outcomes of the course. We conclude in this paper that such cooperation between engineering and arts hassignificant benefits for the creative process and in developing students’ soft skills.
