An approach to the development of Professional skills in a Structural Engineering Programme

Engineers of the future will be presented with complicated, complex problems and their role in the development of sustainable solutions to global problems will become even more critical. Recent literature highlights the need for the development of a set of professional skills in order to address these challenges. These skills include technical, non-technical and attitudinal skills. This paper describes a case study of a whole-of-programme review of teaching and assessment of professional skills in a structural engineering programme. In a systematic process, lecturing staff mapped the modules they teach against a set of professional skills, which were distilled from literature review. The programme map was then analysed to provide insight into the depth to which professional skills are being taught and assessed. This analysis underpinned a review of the teaching of professional skills and led to the identification of both gaps and opportunities to introduce new learning outcomes, teaching activities and assessment techniques.