This pedagogical study aimed to demonstrate an updated Building Information Modelling (BIM) educational activity in CEM (i.e., construction engineering and management) students' final semester project. It investigated students' perceptions of BIM and the project. Student feedback provided insights for linking education to practice, for example,…

Training based on Virtual Reality (VR) has reached a level of maturity that renders it applicable in many industries. By moving through learner interaction and representational fidelity, from navigable to interactable VR learning environments, the relationships between trainees, VR technology, and the world that trainees experience change. These…

Benefits of industry engagement in engineering education for various stakeholders are well known, but there can be significant obstacles to initiating engagement. Using social capital theory, this study investigated how stakeholders initiate industry engagement in engineering education, and the main barriers from the stakeholders' perspectives.…

This study aims to ascertain how the relationships between structures in the South African engineering education and training system condition the likelihood of the systemic transformation required by the changing contemporary engineering industry. Drawing on social realism as its theoretical framework, this qualitative case study analyses the…

Leadership is vital in engineering for individual career advancement and innovation across the profession. Although engineering educators have a key role in developing students' leadership, it is unclear what leadership training and experience they have. This research explores the sources of knowledge, experiences, and roles that engineering…

Gender disparity is an enduring problem in engineering and construction (EC) areas. The main purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of female students in EC programs in the US toward factors impacting their situations and investigate barriers to their academic and professional paths. A quantitative research method was used to measure…

To assist in resolving the perceived lack of transversal competencies (TCs) of engineering graduates by industry, this study investigates the characteristics of transforming an existing industry TC instrument for use in engineering education. The instrument consists of 36 nuanced sub-competencies with the corresponding definitions and descriptive…

Two ongoing and recurrent debates in the employment of academic staff are (1) how much industry experience should faculty staff have? and (2) what priority is given to research, teaching or both? Such debates take place worldwide and are particularly relevant to vocational subject areas. Through a statistical analysis of circa 200 job adverts for…

Previous studies show that digital transition brings several benefits and challenges for companies. Among those challenges, particularly for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), the main one is increased capacitation, from technical roles to management. Considering this, the main objective of this study is to identify the training needs and…

A number of key graduate outcomes related to industry-based interventions and work-industry-related activities (WIA's) are specified by the Swedish Higher Education Ordinance for all Engineering Degree Programmes. A paucity of research regarding student perceptions of these WIAs and their role in student's motivation for learning motivates the…

This paper explores students' perceived value of industry site visits during an engineering study abroad program. In this multi-method study, we collected data from students' (n = 54) reflective activities following each of two site visits and from the end of program evaluation administered by the Student Abroad Office (SAO). Using Kember et al.'s…

Connections to research and professional practice are both essential components of engineering education, although handled differently across engineering programmes. The aim of this paper is to identify discourses on these components across three engineering programmes to in depth understand these variations. A discourse analysis was conducted on…

The transition from engineering student to early career engineer is often difficult as not all skills that constitute effective engineering practice are formally taught. Work placements are suggested as a solution by providing opportunities to learn skills that academia is unable to teach. However, academic requirements for skills such as research…

This study contributes to the current research in career and professional identity development in that it developed a validated competency-based framework to enhance professional and self-awareness of future engineers. Through a mixed-method design, key competencies were identified for three professional roles for early career engineers.…

The social dynamics interfering with engineering design expose engineers to workplace conflicts, undermining well-being and productivity. This strengthens the case for engineering management competences, and conflict management in particular. This conceptual study deepens understanding of industrial leadership by integrating prior knowledge of…