Engineering Student Interest in Future Work Abroad

This Work-in-Progress paper explores the global work interests of engineering students. Expectancy-value models indicate that interest in working abroad should motivate students to develop global competencies due to utility value. Further, Social Cognitive Career Theory indicates that student interest in international careers may be influenced by personal and environmental factors. This exploratory research used convenience samples of data. In a national survey (17 institutions, 2305 responses), 58% of the engineering students had some interest in living internationally as a factor important in their future careers. Student interest in living in a developing country was higher among female students, decreased with rank in college, and differed by both discipline and institution. Student interest in living in a developed country was higher among female students and varied among institutions. Among incoming first-year civil, architectural, and environmental engineering students at one large public institution, 76-94% had some interest in working on projects outside the U.S. during their career. The results show significant student interest in traveling or living abroad for work. Future research should explore how college experiences influence these global work interests and whether they translate into motivation for learning global competencies.