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Nightingale, F, 2024. Developing undergraduate engineering students’ soft skills with interdisciplinary personal development planning modules in Chinese transnational education: a case study. EdD, Nottingham Trent University.
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Abstract
To be a competent engineer no longer only depends on knowledge; soft skills such as teamwork, critical problem solving, communication, and personal and social skills are required in the multifaceted, globalised world of engineering. However, it is widely reported that undergraduate engineering students leave university without the required soft skills to function effectively in the workplace (Beuret and Webb 1982, Riemer 2002, Idrus, Salleh and Lim Abdullah 2011, World Economic Forum 2020). To ensure engineering students leave higher education with the required skills means a revamp of engineering education. This case study follows one cohort of Chinese undergraduate engineering students at a joint education institute between the UK and China, in a transnational education setting. It explores the development of the students’ soft skills when studying an interdisciplinary three-year set of personal development planning (PDP) modules. A mixed-method study featuring two questionnaires over a period of one calendar year (two academic years), 15 interviews and documentary analysis of the students’ engineering logbook (a record of professional development) shows the benefit of these modules and the development of students’ soft skills whilst studying using a project-based approach. It was found that students developed a range of soft skills relevant to engineering including project management, teamwork and problem solving skills which helps them academically, professionally and in the workplace. Findings also showed that students saw the value of the PDP modules, especially for their next career steps and identified that the project-based interdisciplinary approach was important. Culture and self-efficacy were also found to be key in the development of soft skills. A model of PDP modules for undergraduate programme design is given explaining how PDP needs to feature discipline specific skills which are embedded into the degree programme, whilst using an innovation educational approach which is culturally appropriate for developing soft skills in engineering higher education.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Nightingale, F. |
| Contributors: | Name Role NTU ID ORCID |
| Date: | October 2024 |
| Rights: | The copyright in this work is held by the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the author. |
| Divisions: | Schools > School of Social Sciences |
| Record created by: | Jeremy Silvester |
| Date Added: | 01 Aug 2025 12:18 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Aug 2025 12:18 |
| URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/54097 |
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