Essentiality of Knowing Transversal Competencies: Towards Engineering Education Sustainability and Industry Readiness of Engineering Students

Engineering education is to prepare engineers for real-world challenges and seek novel solutions to cater to society's different needs. There is an increase in the global demand for industry-ready engineers. Engineering education sustainability and industry readiness are mutually inclusive, where the former is the combination of different skills and transversal competencies, while the latter is all about their applicability. Transversal competencies, transferable across disciplines, chisel engineering students to become versatile and practical on the shop floor. Sustainability in engineering education is usually discussed only from the ecological/environmental viewpoints. This paper tries to find out the relevance of transversal competencies from the perspectives of engineering students at three levels: the most recurring competencies, the competencies they lack, and the ones that need improvement. Recurring and essential transversal competencies such as problem-solving, creativity and innovation, communication, lifelong learning etc., were identified from different policy frameworks of accreditation agencies, industry reports, organizational reports, and academia. Primary data was collected from final-year engineering students for this exploratory research through semi-structured interviews. These transversal competencies, latent throughout the formative years, have a definite role in the engineer's industry readiness, making engineering education sustainable. The need for industry readiness of the engineering students indicates the sustainability of engineering education, which can bridge the gap between the industry and academia. The paper reveals opportunities for further expansion of the competency frameworks in the policymaking and accreditation procedures.