Abstract:

University degrees with a clearly technical profile, such as engineering degrees, are usually focused on providing the scientific knowledge necessary for the development of the occupation. In contrast, a series of transversal skills that are equally important for students' professional success are overlooked. These include instrumental skills (synthesis capacity, decision-making, etc.), personal skills (interpersonal relationships, ethical commitment, etc.) and systemic skills (creativity, environmental awareness, autonomous learning, etc.).

This work presents a project based on service-learning methodology in which the students of the master’s degree in Civil Engineering of the University of Burgos have participated. The main objective is that they develop all the skills mentioned above, not only the technical ones, while providing a service to society.

To this end, first of all, a need for public infrastructures in Burgos (Spain) has been raised: There are many playgrounds that are used in good weather conditions. However, when it rains they are totally unprotected. This causes that children do not come and also the facilities deteriorate more quickly.

The students then had to find creative solutions to meet this need, considering a limited investment cost and looking for sustainable construction techniques. In this phase of the project, meetings were held with the corresponding local entities. All the feedback collected was used by the students to correct their proposals. Finally, they have drafted the technical projects and presented them in a public exhibition by means of a poster.

The results have been very satisfactory, as the students have progressed in several skills, including teamwork, task coordination, knowledge of the functioning of local institutions, identification of infrastructure problems and practical application of the technical competencies acquired during their studies. In addition, they have also perceived the social awareness of the civil engineering profession, giving first-hand response to a social demand.

Keywords:

Service-learning, transversal skills, civil engineering, public infrastructures.