Which ABET Competencies Do Engineering Graduates Find Most Important in their Work?

BACKGROUND ABET-accredited engineering programs must help students develop specific outcomes (i.e., competencies). Faculty must determine the relative emphasis among the competencies. Yet, information is sparse about the relative importance of each competency for professional practice. PURPOSE (HYPOTHESIS) This study synthesizes opinions of engineering graduates about which competencies are important for professional practice. DESIGN/METHOD A survey asked undergraduate alumni of a large public university in the Midwest to rate the importance of the ABET competencies in their professional experience. Responses included descriptions of education, post-graduate work environment, and demographics. Protected, post-hoc, all-pairwise multiple comparisons determined patterns in the importance ratings, for the aggregate, and for descriptive subgroups. RESULTS The lowest-rated competency's mean rating was 3.3 out of 5. Graduates of 11 engineering majors rated a top cluster of competencies (teamwork, communication, data analysis, and problem solving) significantly higher than a bottom cluster (contemporary issues, design of experiments, and understanding the impact of one's work). importance ratings of five other competencies fell in an intermediate cluster in which importance was statistically tied to either the top or bottom cluster, depending on work environment or academic discipline-not demographics. The dusters were stable over time, that is, over seven survey administrations (1999-2005), years since graduation (0,2,6 & 10), and graduation year (1989-2003). CONCLUSIONS Graduates across engineering disciplines share a pattern of importance for professional practice among the ABET competencies that is statistically significant, consistent across demographic variables, and stable over time. This pattern can inform faculty decisions about curriculum emphasis within and across engineering disciplines.