Abstract:

The internationalization of university education is an unavoidable issue in preparing students to face new challenges in a global world. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), actively promote the mobility of their students by facilitating international exchanges. The University has made an enormous effort to strengthen its curricula by using a wide variety of student mobility programs, including the Smile and Erasmus programs. The aim of this work is to evaluate from the student's point of view the usefulness of exchange programs in their education at the University. To this end, a survey has been developed to evaluate the main competences (17) associated with engineering degrees. The survey has been answered by 447 students from 20 different countries. Students perceive significant improvements in all 17 competences, although there are important differences between them. Students perceive far greater improvements in their interpersonal skills than in technical skills.

Analysis of the results indicates significant correlation in the perceived improvement in the different skills. Indicators have been constructed by combining the different scores using the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The variability (a common part of the 17 competences), which is explained by the model is unusually low. This result is very relevant to the research. In evaluating the development of each competence, it is necessary to design a specific "measurement" system for each skill to indicate the level that is reached during the educational process.

The final conclusion to be drawn from the study is that student exchange programs are useful for strengthening personal skills and to a lesser extent technical skills. The results show that exchange programs strengthen the skills most needed to face the challenges of globalisation and the authors encourage policy-makers to take this information into account when designing mobility programs.

A deep reflection should be done considering the high impact that COVID19 is having on international mobility. Maybe it´s the moment to design new experiences able to keep positive impact on interpersonal students competences in this new environment.

Keywords:

International programs, Engineering curriculum, ABET, Competences.