Background: To prepare engineers who can address complex sociotechnical problems, a deep understanding of engineers' complex problem-solving approaches is needed. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study operationalizes comprehensive systems thinking as an analysis framework that attends to aspects of engineering work and relationships among those aspects.…

Interdisciplinary engineering education (IEE) is gaining traction as engineering practices increasingly acknowledge the need to transcend traditional boundaries given the complexities of globalised systems. IEE, however, faces challenges that underscore uncertainties and different perceptions about what interdisciplinarity means for engineering…

An off-campus practical course is one in which students receive practical training in a vocational workplace outside of their educational institution. These courses focus on practical skills rather than academic knowledge and are essential for students to gain real-world experience and develop skills needed in the modern workforce. The research…

Today, creativity is considered a success factor in many occupational fields and a core competence of the 21st century. In vocational education and training (VET), creativity is defined as problem-solving ability and ascribed to the transversal competences. Creativity is always context-dependent in terms of the work environment and specific…

Purpose: Disruptive forces, such as the global pandemic and technological innovation, are leading to growing labor uncertainty. For organizations, being able to adapt is a key skill for employees, while adapting to different employment contexts is increasingly essential for career success. This study leverages career adaptability theory and…

A hybrid of architectural design and engineering, architectural engineers (AEs)design and remediate problems with internal and external structures and systems of building and facilities in the US. Trained and credentialed in academic programs awarding approximately 1,000 degrees annually, AE is a mid-sized specialty engineering degree comparable…

Critical thinking has been identified as a very important skill by employers for the employment of graduates. A need exists to develop and assess critical thinking skills in tertiary institutions as employers have noted a gap in these skills among graduates. This skill can be developed, over time, by collaborative learning and given that student…

This study investigates the importance of help-seeking skills among higher education graduates as perceived by employers. Through semi-structured interviews with 16 employers across various industries in Australia, the research identifies help-seeking as a critical skill that enhances employability. An employee demonstrates effective help-seeking…

This research paper investigates the influence of Generation Z (born approx. 2000 and 2015) on contemporary educational practices, focusing on their experiences in the classroom and their development of transferable skills for the workplace. As digital natives who have grown up with continual exposure to technology and digital information,…

Econometrics has become increasingly important in Economics and Business degrees, since it appears to be narrowly related to several main skills and competencies as information management, creativity, problem-solving or decision-making. Furthermore, the development of information technologies, including econometric software, makes it possible to…

Expertise is featured by continued high performance in a particular domain. Expertise research has primarily focused on absolute expertise in structured domains such as chess and emphasized the significance of deliberate practice for expertise development. We investigated the development of relative expertise in commercial domains as part of…

The knowledge-based economy and the information society highlights the importance of developing new competencies for personal, professional and social integration. Problem-solving in technologically rich environments (PS-TREs) is one of these competencies. This research examines the relationships between higher education and the PS-TREs…

This paper explores how authentic assessment can be implemented to enhance opportunities to develop employability skills through problem-solving tasks. Based on the eight key tenets of authentic assessment (Ashford-Rowe, Herrington and Brown, 2014), this paper presents formative and summative assessment case studies which were created in…

The "OECD Skills Outlook 2025" examines how countries can build the 21st-century skills needed to sustain growth and social progress. It explores how differences in background, education and opportunity shape who develops, uses and benefits from key skills such as literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem solving. Differential access to…

A series of workshops offered to biology and health sciences students during June and July 2022 was primarily aimed to help students to understand and appreciate the employability benefits of engaging with practical science investigations. Such investigations are designed to help students develop not only practical, numerical and problem-solving…