The role of hard and soft skills on engineering education

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2007

Authors

Júlio Martins (Author) Other; Marinho Duarte (Author) Other; Sérgio Reis Cunha (Author) FEUP; Bernardo Almada Lobo (Author) FEUP; António Torres Marques (Author) FEUP; Barbedo Magalhães (Author) FEUP

Conference proceedings International

Title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering Education

Pages: 1-6

International Conference on Engineering Education - ICEE'2007

Coimbra, September 3th-7th

Scientific classification

CORDIS: Social sciences > Educational sciences

Other information

Resumo (PT): Technological competences alone are not enough in the present world. Society needs responsible leaders and entrepreneurs. PUKHA (To Project, to Undertake, to Know How to Achieve) is a recent framework launched at Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto to foster the so called soft skills on its students. Over 300 students have been enrolled in 40 different projects for the last 3 years. Through hands-on projects, students from different academic years work together in students led teams aimed to achieve something with real value. They have the opportunity to develop and improve their responsibility, communication, leadership, management and entrepreneurship, among other skills. That leads to a process of education and innovation on engineering, outside the classroom. Based on first results, these projects play a key role on the students learning process, as they are more motivated to enrich their knowledge and experience towards a successful future as engineers. As leaders, students develop management skills from financial and project planning issues to emotional and motivational fields. As potential entrepreneurs, they have to accomplish their initiatives (some projects may even lead to start-ups). The freedom students enjoy in those projects and their own leading role creates the atmosphere where innovation skills can be developed and innovation may take place. The hurdles faced by the leaders will also be presented. PUKHA develops the ability to work on flexible and changing teams. These skills are most important for leaders to influence and inspire the work of others. This paper addresses the main factors on which student’s initiative, responsibility and effective leadership are built upon and tries to draw a set of useful guidelines to the university education of young people.

Language: Portuguese

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific