Engineering education: Using technical attributes to analyse the employers' expectation of future engineering graduates in Malaysia

This paper discusses a comprehensive study of employers' expectation of Malaysian engineering graduates towards assessing measurable qualities. To have better overview in this issue, a survey on the needs and expectations of Malaysian industries towards graduate engineers is conducted. In order to create a smoother transition from education to practice, some argue that engineering education should put more emphasis on the engineering-based knowledge. Thus, this study investigates the expectation of the majority of Malaysian industries towards future engineering workforce. For the purpose of this paper, only the technical or engineering-based attributes such as basic engineering knowledge, ability in theoretical and research engineering, technical competency in a specific engineering discipline and others are discussed. A total of 422 companies from various industries in Malaysia were chosen for the face-to-face interview sessions using a set of questionnaires. The respondents were mainly come from high ranking personnel in their firm. The outcomes of this study will later be considered as a revision guideline for the engineering education curricula of Malaysian Institutions of Higher Learnings.