Abstract
Graduate engineers in the 21st century are
expected to be well rounded engineers after graduating with
a Washington accord degree. Academics and industry
concur that engineers need to have a set of soft skills in the
21st century. Competence in soft skills may equally have a
great influence over an engineer’s general career
achievement as hard skills competences. The purpose of this
study is to investigate the magnitude to which the gap
between Washington accord engineering degrees offer and
industry expectations. The study found that graduate
engineers with a Washington accord (WA) degree are taught
the following soft skills; communication skills, teamwork,
entrepreneurial skills, problem solving skills, decision
making, ethic, self management skills, life long learning, and
creativity/innovation. In contrast, industry found that
graduate engineers are competent in the following soft skills;
interpersonal skills, flexibility, teamwork, decision making
skills, problem solving skills, and self management skills.
Moreover, the result revealed that graduate engineers are
taught the following soft skills; communication skills, ethics,
and entrepreneurial skills but were not inline with industry
expectations. The findings suggest that by revising the
engineering curricula, it may be able to produce engineering
graduates who are more prepared to meet industry
expectations.