Perceptions of the Importance of Interpersonal Skills by Engineers, Students, and Faculty

Engineering undergraduates are expected have a base level of technical skills upon graduation. Teaching technical skills comes naturally to engineering programs as the conceptual understanding of the material forms the foundation of engineering ability. However, engineering graduates also are expected to have a base level of professional, or interpersonal, skills, which are more subjective in nature and do not have a standardized approach for teaching or assessing them at the undergraduate level. This work explored the perceptions held by engineering students, engineering faculty, and practicing engineers toward the importance of specific interpersonal skills. Eight interpersonal skills were management, and teamwork. Statistical analysis of survey data indicated that students, faculty, and practicing engineers have similar views of the importance of each of the eight professional skills. Results showed that student ratings of their peers' abilities align with the perceptions that practicing engineers have of student abilities. Peer and practicing engineer ratings were statistically significantly lower than student ratings of their own abilities. The discrepancies in perceptions of student ability show the subjective nature of interpersonal skills. Work to align these perceptions is needed to provide a more consistent assessment of interpersonal skills.