The MASOEE project brings together engineering faculties in the EUniWell alliance to share best practices for teaching transversal skills so that engineers contribute to societal well-being. The study combines the expertise of several engineering faculties at European universities. It focuses on sharing and developing expertise to improve the social outcomes of engineering students. Namely, researchers examine the similarities and differences between partners regarding their student bodies, teaching, programme structures, and institutions’ culture. Moreover, the work also explores how transversal skills are taught, what student attitudes are in terms of learning these skills, and how educators can better teach them.
The research design includes several activities across four work packages (WPs). To ensure that partners use the same skill descriptions, we use well-established organizations' existing definitions. WP1 strives to identify best practices within EUniWell based on the 15 entrepreneurial competencies defined in EU EntreComp Framework. WP2 targets engineering students' ability to solve complex challenges, communication, and networking skills defined in the "21st century skills" by the World Economic Forum. WP3 investigates the engineering schools’ capacity to train engineering students in sustainable competence, forming responsible engineers capable of developing sustainable solutions using the skills defined by the EU GreenComp. WP4 supports the other packages with engineering education research, specifically data collection and analysis, knowledge forming, and evaluation. The project runs from August 2022 until September 2023.
The MASOEE project partners gather knowledge within their organisations through joint surveys and focus groups and collectively identify and share best practices. The engineering identity, taught as transversal skills by participating partners, can evolve from a traditional technologist identity along three paths: the self-made engineer, the progressive technologist, and the responsible engineer. By sharing best practices for teaching these skills, we believe we will better understand what the future engineer - who integrates all three identities – will be.