Student perception on achieved graduate attributes and learning experiences: A study on undergraduate engineering students of India

Abstract

This paper identifies and analyses the graduate attributes that students perceive to have achieved better during their four-year undergraduate engineering studies. It also examines the contribution of engineering learning experiences towards achieving the technical and soft skills aspects of the graduate attributes. To achieve these, a transversal study was conducted for a sample size of 583 undergraduate engineering students of various colleges affiliated to a technical university in India. It was found that the graduate attributes students perceived to have achieved more are, knowledge in mathematics, science and engineering fundamentals. The students also felt confident in working well in multidisciplinary settings, both at the individual and the team level. As perceived by the students, engineering learning experiences such as, project work and seminars play a major role in acquiring better technical skills, co-curricular activities for soft skills, and the internet and seminars for both technical and soft skills.