Employers' assessment of professional competencies for automotive engineers

Abstract

Competencies are skills, soft or hard, that a person acquires through studies or experience. Automotive Engineering professionals at Universidad Internacional del Ecuador-UIDE develop competencies for their working life. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the competencies of automotive engineering graduates from UIDE from the perspective of employers. For the development of the study, a quantitative methodology was applied through a survey to 39 employers in Guayaquil and Quito, who expressed their evaluation of competencies through Likert scales. The results indicate that employers value soft skills or competencies more than technical ones. Likewise, it is observed that competencies related to design, research and repair are among the least valued competencies. The authors conclude on the need to reform the curriculum based on the information collected.