This study aims to explore how higher education institutions respond to the challenge of incorporating soft skills into their curricula. It employs a mixed-methods approach in which the quantitative analysis of the disciplines addressing this issue is complemented by a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with four higher…

Building Information Modelling (BIM) enables the Civil engineers professional to accomplish the digital requirements and also the integration and collaboration on the elaboration of projects and maintenance of buildings. BIM methodology is currently the main subject of investigation and application in the construction industry and the education…

The increasing complexity of financial products and services requires a domain of information and knowledge in the financial area. This study explores the role of financial literacy in undergraduate students at a higher education institution in Portugal. A sample of 196 undergraduate students enrolled in six courses in the fields of engineering…

The increase in digital teaching and learning methodologies creates the opportunity for new educational approaches, both in terms of pedagogical practice and in the availability of new technological tools. The flipped classroom as an active teaching methodology is one example of blended learning (b-learning), which aims to harmonize and enhance…

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to develop an innovative pedagogic tool: an escape room board game to be played in-class, targeting an introduction to an ethics course for engineering students. The design is student-centred and aims to increase students' appreciation, commitment and motivation to learning ethics, a challenging endeavour for…

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of Scrum for project and team management in PBL teams in higher education. To attain this goal, a study was carried out to analyze students' perceptions about Scrum as an effective method for PBL teams. Based on two different editions of PBL that used the Scrum method with different…

This study captures student perceptions of the effectiveness of remote learning and assessment in two associated engineering disciplines, mechanical and industrial, during the COVID-19 pandemic in a cross-national study. A structured questionnaire with 24 items on a 5-point Likert scale was used. Parallel and exploratory factor analyses identified…

The use of AI tools, particularly ChatGPT, has been widespread in recent years. Its application in education has been criticized by some and supported by others. In this article we present the case of a work carried out as part of a course unit in a computer science degree program in which the use of ChatGPT was not only encouraged but required.…

The development of vital competencies and a mindset to rethink products, production, and business models in engineering and design students is presently of great importance. These future professionals will play a key role in the development of sustainable products. Within Eco-design and Eco-efficiency curricular unit, an assignment was developed…

Purpose: This study assesses the effects of junior enterprises (JEs) on the entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions of engineering higher education students, compared to a group of social sciences students. Design/methodology/approach: This research analyses a sample of 132 students enrolled in engineering higher education courses in Portugal and…

Low performance of nontechnical engineering students in programming courses is a problem that remains unsolved. Over the years, many authors have tried to identify the multiple causes for that failure, but there is unanimity on the fact that motivation is a key factor for the acquisition of knowledge by students. To better understand motivation, a…

Across higher education, teachers have been inspiring themselves (and others) to apply pedagogical innovations grounded in a unifying intention: to prepare students for labour markets and societal challenges. Research-based education has been funded to promote pedagogical innovations with valuable impact on the students' academic success and/or…

Students are formal learners seeking documented and recognized tertiary education. Student mobility in higher education can be inward (into a country) or outward (out of a country). Both types of mobility are educational processes offering different experiences and resulting in different outcomes. At least half of MIEM (Integrated Mechanical…

The Fourth Industrial Revolution era has arrived, according to the World Economic Forum. Everything is changing (viz., artificial intelligence, automation, intelligent robots, self-driving cars and genetic editing) and exciting opportunities accompanied with major challenges come to the surface. On the other hand, major difficulties may also rise,…

An essential aspect of higher education institutions' academic curricula for engineering courses is the students' industrial internship programs. In the literature, it is well accepted that such programs provide valuable learning outcomes and increase the graduates' employment prospects. Thus, it is paramount to evaluate the internship programs'…