Identification of top competencies required from engineering graduates: a case study of saudi arabia

• Autores: Mohamed Sharaf, Abdullah Alsadaawi, Mohamed Elmadany, Saeed Al Zahrani, AbdelHamid Ajbar
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 29, no. Extra 4, 2013, págs. 967-973
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The rapid industrialization of the oil rich country of Saudi Arabia has lead to the expansion of its engineering colleges. However, itis perceived by local industrial and academic sectors that changes in the curriculum are not dynamic enough to keep pace with arapidly-changing marketplace. The objective of this study is to shed some light on these perceptions. This paper reports results of astudy carried out in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of ranking generic competencies required from engineering graduates. Aquestionnaire was designed and sent to engineers working in industry or in academia. The questionnaire included fifty competenciesthat were grouped into four domains: knowledge and understanding, personal and professional skills, interpersonal skills, andpracticing skills. The analysis of the survey data has identified the competencies that are valued by industry and academia. Theoverall analysis showed that non-technical and attitudinal competencies are being perceived as equally important as technical ones.This is consistent with studies carried out elsewhere in the world. However, some issues such as communication in English languageand computer literacy are deemed equally important. The findings of this study may be helpful in identifying the critical soft skillsthat need to be carefully addressed in any tuning of the current engineering curriculum.