Promoting 'Soft Skills' from the Start of the Engineering Degree and the Case Study of the Special 'Projeto FEUP' Course

Abstract

The so called 'Soft Skills' (SSs) are the set of non-technical skills that enable a given individual to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. These skills are also interesting for the promotion of deep knowledge and to foster academic success. The case study analyses the very special 'Projeto FEUP' course that promotes SSs across all engineering programmes in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), in Portugal. This is done right after the arrival of students at the institution by means of producing several communicational items over an adequate technical work. The study involved 781 students. The presented results hint that Soft Skills are, in fact, improved after half-semester but this is not the sole product of the mentioned course.