Recent research firmly highlights the necessity of incorporating the perspectives of students and graduates to enhance educational strategies. This approach guarantees that education stays globally relevant and effectively addresses the specific needs of various stakeholders. As a direct outcome, resilience in engineering skills is gaining critical importance, focusing on the essential skills required to create sustainable synergies. Transformative changes in engineering education are driving this trend. This study analyses how resilience in engineering education can transform skills to foster sustainable synergies, focusing specifically on the perceptions of students and graduates in Sweden. Using a deductive approach, the research investigates these perceptions through a survey that includes qualitative questions, employing thematic analysis for the data. The study findings indicate that resilience skills are essential for creating sustainable synergies that benefit students, educators, higher education institutions (HEIs), and industry. However, academics face challenges in teaching engineering students’ practical skills that are increasingly in demand rather than focusing on theoretical knowledge. Academics struggle to connect theoretical concepts with the problem-solving and engineering practices needed to enhance global competencies in the industry and maintain competitiveness, thereby providing sustainable outcomes. This issue was noted in a previous CDIO syllabus study in 2014, and surprisingly, a decade later, it continues to be a significant concern. This indicates that higher education institutions and educators still have a gap in pedagogical skills that must be addressed.
