A Novel Approach to Build Life-Long Successful Skills for Engineering Managers

Abstract

Does learning stop when people leave college? Nor it does or it should. Lifelong learning is defined as the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated" pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons (Department of Education and Science, Dublin, 2000). The aim of lifelong learning is to improve knowledge, skills, and competence with a personal, civic, social, or employment-related perspective (Yamat et al., 2007). With the ever-evolving work environment and globalization, working professionals many times find the need to learn due to technological advances, personnel/ role changes (willingly or unwillingly), or other unexpected life events. The new Master of Engineering Technical Management (METM) program was launched in 2018, designed for engineers to learn technical and managerial knowledge that helps them exceed at their everyday tasks and soft skills that would benefit them in a lifetime. This paper shares the curriculum design of this program as well as skills and tools it offers, including emotional intelligence, decision-making, communication, negotiation, and so forth, that aim at developing life-long successful skills for working professionals.