Abstract:

As the exponential growth of technology and digitalization is accelerating, the demand for science and engineering talent is increasing globally. In these circumstances, we focused our study on how to develop the competency of engineers to become recognizable leaders, capable of tackling complex problems in the future. In this preliminary survey, we aimed to measure the competency of 48 Japanese information technology (IT) and manufacturing engineers at managerial positions by using a competency measurement test called the Progress Report on Generic Skills (PROG) test to identify talent development opportunities for engineers. The PROG test was designed to measure generic competency skills such as teamwork skills, personal skills, and problem-solving skills. Engineers with an educational background in social sciences and humanities accounted for 29.2 % and ones with an educational background in science and engineering accounted for 70.8 % of total participants of this survey. The analysis of these educational backgrounds on the PROG test scores suggests that differences in the educational background of the subjects make a significant difference in the level of teamwork skills that are regarded as essential for working with people. Engineers with an educational background in social sciences and humanities demonstrated higher scores for teamwork skills, compared to engineers with an educational background in science and engineering. There was no significant difference between these subject groups in test scores for personal and problem-solving skills. Although the analysis of the test scores between IT and manufacturing engineers (62.5 % and 37.5 %, respectively) did not show a significant difference in terms of the competency development between these subject groups of engineers, IT engineers had slightly higher teamwork skills than manufacturing engineers. This may be because all engineers with a background in social science and humanities were IT engineers. Another analysis of the test scores in terms of the levels of job responsibility shows that job responsibilities can affect the level of competency development in engineers. Subjects in a director level position showed the highest competency levels in teamwork, personal, and problem solving-skills. Also, subjects in a manager or expert position tended to demonstrate lower scores for problem-solving skills than those in a director position. This result suggests that further development of problem-solving skills is important for promoting engineers in a manager or expert position to a position at a director level, where engineers face more complicated and difficult problems. These analysis results suggest that science and engineering education in Japan at the higher education levels must include and strengthen education in social sciences and humanities together with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to foster engineers who can tackle more complicated tasks in the future. It is also important to provide on-the-job education for engineers through proper competency development programs to pursue a long-term career path.

Keywords:

Engineering education, competency, humanities & social science, STEM.