Introduction: Why We Need Transferable Competencies and Skills in Engineering Education

Thies Johannsen of TU Berlin teaches and works in the span between humanities, arts, and social sciences on the one end and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics on the other. His research focuses on competences for innovation along with knowledge and technology transfer. After working on various research projects and in research administration, he has developed and coordinated cooperative education programs with practical partners from business and public administration.

Gillian Saunders-Smits is a Senior Lecturer at the Cognitive Robotics Department in Mechanical Engineering at Delft University of Technology. She holds a MSc in Aerospace Engineering and a PhD in Aerospace Engineering Education from the same institute. She has extensive teaching experience in engineering and broad experience in curriculum development and educational leadership in aerospace and robotics. Gillian is passionate about online and open education and has developed several MOOCs and Open Educational Resources. Her research interests include engineering education, notably: curriculum development and evaluation, competencies and skills in engineering, preparation for labour market, inclusive education, and online learning. She was recently appointed TU Delft Education Fellow.

Lynn Van den Broeck is a postdoc at the Faculty of Engineering Technology, KU Leuven. She holds a MSc in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in engineering education from the same institute. She is closely involved in education and, more specifically, the inclusion of professional competencies in the study programme. In addition, she is responsible for educational professionalisation and teaching assistant training. She is the chair of the study career guidance theme within LESEC, co-chair of SIG Engineering skills at SEFI. Her research interests focus on study guidance, effectiveness and efficiency of educational interventions, LLL and professional competencies, and feedback.