Defining Global Competence for Engineering Students
Stacy Klein-Gardner, Alanna Walker
Abstract
In this study, we collected the opinions of prominent members of engineering industry and academia in order to determine a clear definition of what it means for engineering graduates to be globally competent.The data collection was conducted via an online survey, which was adapted from a survey outlined in Parkinson et al.'s 2009 paper entitled "Developing Global Competence in Engineers: What Does It Mean?What Is Most Important?".The similarity between our surveys allowed us to compare our results to the results they presented.We also collected more demographic data, which allowed us to look for relationships between the participants' answers and the way they ranked the thirteen dimensions.We found that only some of the demographic information correlated with some of the competencies, but not all.Our survey indicated that the top five most important dimensions of global competence are: 1) the ability to communicate across cultures, 2) the ability to appreciate other cultures, 3) a proficiency working in or directing a team of ethnic and cultural diversity, 4) the ability to effectively deal with ethical issues arising from cultural or national differences, 5) possessing understanding of cultural differences relating to product design, manufacture, and use, and 5) possessing understand implications of cultural differences of how engineering tasks might be approached.While more research is needed in this area, it is our hope that these findings will lead to a well-supported definition for what it means to be a globally competent engineer.A definition like this will help engineering universities focus the global education of their students to produce more competitive graduates for the international job market.