What Does it Take to Become a Good Engineer?

Engineers of the future are expected to possess a range of competencies in addition to math and science skills. This paperturns to engineering students to explore what they think it takes to become a good engineer. Profiles are identified by meansof a large-scale survey-based investigation of the perceptions of first year engineering students in the US and in Denmarkwith respect to the importance of math/science skills and interpersonal and professional skills for successful engineering.Four groups of first year engineering students are defined according to combinations of high and low importanceassessments of each of the two skill types in both countries. This leads to analytically derived groups emphasizing math/science skills, interpersonal and professional skills, both skill types, and none of the skills. Differences and similaritiesbetween these groups are explored in terms of relative group sizes and gender composition, levels of confidence, andmotivation to study engineering. The findings show that the four engineering student groups have distinct profiles withdifferent characteristics in terms of motivation and confidence and which may each require different educationalapproaches to become broad thinking engineers. Apart from the exploratory investigation of group differences withineach country, the paper also examines whether the four group profiles are nationally confined or if common tendenciesshared by engineering students in both countries exist. The paper contributes to the literature on engineering education andserves to inform engineering educators and institutions worldwide with new insights into the expectations and perceptionsof actual students who are at the very beginning of their pathway to an engineering education.