See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/310444775

Adjusting Higher Education Competences to Companies

Professional Needs:: A Case Study in an Engineering Master's
Degree

Article  in  International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals · January 2017
DOI: 10.4018/IJHCITP.2017010105

CITATIONS READS

2 78

4 authors:

Joaquim Fernando Almeida Alves Natercia Lima

Polytechnic Institute of Porto Polytechnic Institute of Porto
16 PUBLICATIONS   111 CITATIONS    35 PUBLICATIONS   182 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Gustavo Ribeiro Alves Francisco José García-Peñalvo

Polytechnic Institute of Porto Universidad de Salamanca
272 PUBLICATIONS   1,658 CITATIONS    1,086 PUBLICATIONS   8,204 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

W-STEM “Bulding the future of Latin America: engaging women into STEM” View project

Estudios de género en STEM View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Francisco José García-Peñalvo on 09 July 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals
Volume 8 • Issue 1 • January-March 2017

Adjusting Higher Education Competences

to Companies Professional Needs:
A Case Study in an Engineering Master’s Degree
Joaquim Alves, Research Centre in Industrial Technology and Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Natércia Lima, Research Centre in Industrial Technology and Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Gustavo Alves, Research Centre in Industrial Technology and Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Francisco J. García-Peñalvo, Research Institute for Educational Sciences, University of Salamanca, Spain

ABSTRACT

This work reports the incorporation result of a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Program in the two-
years master’s degree in Instrumentation and Metrology Engineering (MEIM) held at the School of
Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto (ISEP). The procedure developed to find internships in industrial
companies and institutions, which have needs for engineers in the areas of instrumentation and
metrology is displayed. The authors also present the information on the situation of students that,
by the end of the first academic year, could get enrolled in the curricular unit Dissertation/Project/
Professional Training (opting either for a professional internship in a company or by a research
project conducted in ISEP laboratories). In order to understand the benefits and impact of a WIL
program, from a student perspective, students were asked to answer a questionnaire. Lastly, the results
achieved during the study period are presented, including the student reported outcomes (from the
questionnaire), as well as the informal feedback from students and companies’ supervisors. The
good results achieved, regarding the development of theoretical-practical competencies as well as
generic or soft skills, during the master’s, were also confirmed by the fact that students are hired by
the companies to continue their work after the end of professional training.

Keywords
Competence Development, Engineering Education, Learning Outcomes, Learning Strategies, WIL Programs

INTRODUCTION

Within higher education, mainly amongst the most prestige universities, it almost seems criminal to
mention higher education and employment in the same conversation, as the role of higher education
is not vocational (Freeman, 1997). However, one of the desirable outcomes of a higher education
degree is the transition to the labor market, with the expectation of a worthwhile career, one that
guarantees a higher social status and allows for a higher income than non-college graduates (Watts,
1983). The need to reduce the current gap between higher education and the demands of labor work
has, in these last years, stimulated several studies (Handel, 2003), as it is imperative that there must
be an information exchange between these “two worlds”, as all countries/governments are concerned
about their return in higher education investment (García-Peñalvo, 2011).
In a market economy it´s of crucial importance that there is an effective information exchange
between higher education and the labor market, so that higher education institutions can be shaped,
by the demands of the market. The need for employers to be involved in curricular design has been

DOI: 10.4018/IJHCITP.2017010105

Copyright © 2017, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

66
 International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals
Volume 8 • Issue 1 • January-March 2017

discussed by several authors (Diamond, 1989) as, economically speaking, employers are the consumers
of the product (students) of higher education institutions. In a perfect world, this information exchange
should lead to a matching of job skills between graduates and employers (García-Peñalvo, 2016). A
mismatch of these could lead to unemployment or underemployment of expensive educated graduates,
which is economically inefficient and personal distressful (Fulton, Gordon, & William, 1982).
Although employees generally agree that graduates have solid theoretical-practical knowledge
in their field of specialization, they are less satisfied with the development of what have been termed
“generic skills”, such as communication, team working, time management, problem-solving and
learning aptitude and the ability to manage stress and heavy workloads (Stiwne & Jungert, 2010)
(Hernandez-March, Martín del Peso, & Rabadán, 2010) (Froyd, Wankat, & Smith, 2012). As Al-Bahi
et al. states, Engineering Students are expected to have, at the end of their university/polytechnic
degree, “a set of professional skills related to teamwork, oral and written communications, and impact
of engineering solutions, life-long learning and knowledge of contemporary issues.” (Al-Bahi, Taha,
& Turkmen, 2013). It is hoped that higher education provides workers not only with the adequate
knowledge in their field, but also with the necessary abilities and competencies to carry out their
job assignments, ultimately to maintain and improve their country’s social well-being and economic
prosperity.
Moreover, with the democratization of education it is expected that higher education institutions
have to accommodate a position where students are more diverse in their background, motivations and
capabilities as well as in the jobs and positions that they will have after graduating (Teichler, 1999;
Michavila et al., 2016). Furthermore, some employers feel that recent graduates exhibit a different
attitude and behavior when compared to previous generations – they have a certain lack of motivation
and maturity, putting high priority on comfort, their personal life and free time. This has essentially
to do with the fact that new generations (sometimes described as the “Peter Pan Generation”) have
grown up in a rather protected environment, having almost everything they wanted without having
to make much effort to get it (Hernandez-March, Martín del Peso, & Rabadán, 2010; García-Peñalvo
et al., 2016).
So, in higher education institutions, there must be a change in the learning-teaching methodology
as well as in the content of syllabi, including infusion of student outcomes into curriculum, which
would allow students to develop these generic skills (García-Peñalvo, Cruz-Benito, Griffiths &
Achilleos, 2015; 2016). Still, teaching and assessing these skills is very difficult. Atkins (Atkins,
1999) states that these skills can also be developed by other means: students living away from home,
studying abroad, summer work, through “gap years”, by participating in clubs and societies or by
undertaking voluntary activities. These statements are supported by many students.
The inclusion of Work Integrated Learning (WIL) programs – labor practices in companies,
undertaken by students, subjected to academic supervision and coordination – in the study plan of
higher education institutions is becoming a generalized response to these challenges (DEST, 2001).
This term is being used by universities from all over the world to identify programs that add a practical
employment-based learning component to school-based learning. WIL Programs are most valuable
because they align theoretical classroom learning with practical workplace (Kramer & Usher, 2011).
Alternatively, to universities, higher education polytechnics schools started this practice throughout
Europe in the mid-60s (Kehm & Teichler, 1995). Some authors state that WIL Programs are the most
efficient means to develop competencies in graduates (Ellis, 2000) (Gault, Redington, & Schlager,
2000) (Braunstein & Loken, 2004) (Bennet, Eagle, Mousley, & Ali-Choudhury, 2008) and students
confirm that “a thesis project in a firm was the best learning experience during the whole period of
studies” (Stiwne & Jungert, 2010). However, it remains unexplored the comparative benefits of this
program to other types of student work experiences (Kramer & Usher, 2011).

67
 11 more pages are available in the full version of this
document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart"
button on the product's webpage:
www.igi-global.com/article/adjusting-higher-education-
competences-to-companies-professional-
needs/169862?camid=4v1

This title is available in InfoSci-Journals, InfoSci-Journal

Disciplines Business, Administration, and Management,
InfoSci-Operations, Logistics, and Performance Assessment
eJournal Collection, InfoSci-Select. Recommend this product
to your librarian:
www.igi-global.com/e-resources/library-
recommendation/?id=2

Related Content

Transnational and Cross-Cultural Approaches in Undercover Police Work

John Irwin and Anthony H. Normore (2015). Cross-Cultural Collaboration and
Leadership in Modern Organizations (pp. 157-175).
www.igi-global.com/chapter/transnational-and-cross-cultural-approaches-in-
undercover-police-work/132626?camid=4v1a

Features for Suitable Problems: IT Professionals’ and IT Students’ Opinions

Juri Valtanen, Eleni Berki, Elli Georgiadou, Stylianos Hatzipanagos, Margaret Ross,
Ioannis G. Stamelos and Geoff Staples (2012). International Journal of Human
Capital and Information Technology Professionals (pp. 27-41).
www.igi-global.com/article/features-suitable-problems/68169?camid=4v1a

Model Based Estimation and Tracking Method for Agile Software Project
Sungjoo Kang, Okjoo Choi and Jongmoon Baik (2012). International Journal of
Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals (pp. 1-15).
www.igi-global.com/article/model-based-estimation-tracking-
method/66095?camid=4v1a
 Interview with Lulite Ejigu, Compliance Vice President at Citi
Peter Miller, Alicia Therneau and Marthe Haile (2014). Servant Leadership: Research
and Practice (pp. 318-321).
www.igi-global.com/chapter/interview-with-lulite-ejigu-compliance-vice-
president-at-citi/106123?camid=4v1a

View publication stats