Development of Working Life Competencies in a Project Course for Master Students at Aalto University

Education programmes are expected to fulfil many requirements in the uncertain environment that constitutes the beginning of the 21st century. Whilst the transmission of content, the development of comprehension and analytical skills, and specific skills related to a particular discipline are still valid, it is vital to equip students for working in groups that may be diverse, situations that may be challenging, and in a work environment that is changing at an increasing rate. Attempting to rise to these challenges, this article focuses on team and multicultural working life skills, utilising a survey and group interviews of masters students in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation at Aalto University, who are required to participate in a recently introduced 10 ECTS project-based course. The groups were formed in terms of their suitability to perform project tasks given by research groups in the department. The efficacy of such purposive grouping of students is assessed in terms of 26 skills, adapted from the national-level TEK (Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland) feedback survey for engineering 2016 graduates, with a deeper focus on two of these competencies, skills related to the international work environment and team working.