Certification of students in non-technical engineering skills: What do the companies think?

To systematically address non-technical engineering skills (NTES), six mandatory "Engineering Days" (Ing-dagar) were introduced in two bachelor programmes. The students were also allowed to perform voluntary activities leading to a Certification of Non-technical Engineering Competences, a certificate the students can attach to their CVs. To be certified, the student must have performed activities in at least three of these five areas: entrepreneurship, ethics, sustainable development, international/intercultural aspects, and professional role (defined as comprising leadership and teamwork). To investigate what skills the software industry thinks are important and whether a related certificate is regarded as advantageous when students seek employment, two surveys were administered to company representatives. The study clearly indicates that 85% of software company representatives thought that NTES certification would give an applicant an advantage if technical merits were equal to those of other applicants. Representatives of participating companies asked to rate the five NTES areas ranked professional role the highest and international/intercultural aspects the lowest.