The Competencies of Engineering Graduates (CEG) Project

The CEG Project

The CEG Project is designed to help develop a survey instrument to profile the competencies of engineering graduates using ratings made by the workplace supervisors of recent graduates. 

The purpose of the instrument is to close the loop in the continuous development of engineering education programs to align them with industry needs. The instrument will be designed to be used by Australian universities that provide undergraduate engineering education.  Applications will include program evaluation, benchmarking and demonstration of satisfaction of the requirements for program accreditation.

The CEG Project research plan includes 2 surveys followed by a focus group. Results could be used to help develop a survey instrument.  

The First Survey

The first large scale survey in the CEG Project profiled the work and required competencies of ‘established engineers’, that is, engineers with 5 to 20 years’ experience since graduation. The questionnaire asked about the engineers' work in order to group engineering jobs into clusters with similar work contexts and tasks. 

Different sample groups made significantly different ratings of the importance for various competencies. Competencies that received the highest average ratings of importance included communication, self-management, teamwork, interaction with people in diverse disciplines/professions/trades, commitment to doing one’s best, problem-solving and honesty.

The Second Survey

Participants in the second survey were senior engineers.  This survey confirmed the outcomes of the first survey.

Focus Group

A focus group was conducted in 2009, to refine the generic engineering competencies factor model revealled in the survey results.

The Final Instrument

The results of this study are suitable to be used to develop an instrument will measure aptitude to develop the competencies required by established engineers.

The Researchers

The project is being undertaken in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Western Australia by

Sally Male (tel +61 8 6488 7815) sallymale@mech.uwa.edu.au supervised by

Winthrop Professor Mark Bush  mark.bush@uwa.edu.au

Journal Papers

Male, S.A., in press, "Review of Literature on Generic Engineering Competencies", Education Research and Perspectives

Male, S.A.; Bush, M.B.; Chapman, E.S., 2010, "Perceptions of Competency Deficiencies of Engineering Graduates", Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 16 (1), 55-68. http://www.engineersmedia.com.au/journals/aaee/pdf/AJEE_16_1_Male%20F2.pdf

Male, S.A.; Bush, M.B.; Murray, K., 2009, "Think engineer, think male?", European Journal of Engineering Education, 34 (5), 455-464.

Conference Presentations

Male, S.A.; Bush, M.B.; Chapman, E.S., "Identification of competencies required by engineers graduating in Australia", Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference, The University of Adelaide, 2009.

Male, S.A.; Bush, M.B.; Murray, K., "Gender typing and engineering competencies", Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference, The University of Adelaide, 2009. Full refereed paper: http://aaee.com.au/conferences/AAEE2009/PDF/AUTHOR/AE090045.PDF

Male, S.; Chapman, E.; Bush, M., "Do female and male engineers rate different competencies as important", Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference, The University of Melbourne, 2007. Full refereed paper: http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/aaee2007/papers/paper_61.pdf 

Male, S.; Chapman, E., "Assessing the Generic Competencies of Engineering Graduates", Global Colloquium on Engineering Education, Sydney 2005. Full refereed paper: http://www.aaee.com.au/conferences/papers/2005/Paper/Paper203.pdf

Male, S.A., "Leadership in Engineering Education Gradually Establishing Status for Non-technical Competencies in Engineering Faculties" Engendering Leadership Conference, The University of Western Australia, July 22-24, 2008. Abstract (scroll to final abstract in the stream):  http://www.business.uwa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/57655/Masculinities_Program.pdf

"Competencies of Engineering Graduates" Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia Conference, The University of Western Australia, July 2006. 

Acknowledgements

Participation from industry is vital to the success of this project.  The research team is grateful to members of the CEG Project Advisory Committee; members of the panel session held in 2005 and of the focus group held in 2009; volunteers who tested the surveys and participants in the surveys; individuals who promoted the call for volunteers; organisations that promoted the call for volunteers, including members of the UWA Engineering Advisory Board and Panels and Engineering Foundation, Engineers Australia and the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (WA); Dominic Angerame at the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia (APESMA) for survey data. The Project uses and extends the work of Engineers Australia in the field of competency identification and evaluation and has adopted questions from the salary surveys conducted by the APESMA in conjunction with Engineers Australia.

Sally Male received a scholarship from UWA.