Communication skills training for engineering students in British Universities

Communication skills training is not well established in the British university curricula. For a long time, it has been a neglected issue while priority is given to the acquisition of technical skills. A research project carried out at Aston University examined the question of how communication skills could most effectively be provided for engineering students. From information received from people experienced in the field in Britain, several interesting differences were noted among courses held in a number of institutes of higher education. Such differences included the background of the lecturer (in primarily engineering or communication), the timing of the course in the degree program, and syllabus selection focusing on academic and industrially related skills. Accordingly, a series of recommendations was made concerning methods of course development at Aston University. The main conclusion is that a joint collaborative approach between an engineering department and a communication specialist is likely to be most successful. Further attention also needs to be paid to the specific skills required by practicing engineers in industry.