2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This empirical research brief examines the importance of enhancing professional skills among engineering students during internships using a university-industry education intervention. While technical skills are essential, engineering students also require strong professional skills, such as communication and problem-solving, to excel in engineering practice. This is particularly evident in Uganda, where feedback from universities and industry highlights a gap. This study was conducted at a western Uganda research intensive institution using the SoSTeM (Soft Skills Teaching Method) model to address this gap through a structured university-industry collaboration. The study aimed to determine whether a university-industry education intervention using the SoSTeM model could improve professional skills, particularly communication, report writing, and problem-solving, among engineering students. The project objectives were to (1) design, implement, and evaluate the intervention during internships and (2) provide leadership in teaching professional skills in Ugandan engineering education. The hypothesis was that a well-designed intervention would result in measurable improvements in professional skills. This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods. A two-arm cluster randomized trial was conducted, where second- and third-year undergraduate engineering students were randomly assigned to either an intervention group, which received a one-week professional skills training before their internship, or a control group that did not receive any training. Pre- and post-assessments included reports, presentations, and problem-solving tasks. Quantitative data were collected through rubrics and questionnaires. Qualitative data were collected through follow-up oral interviews with industry supervisors and university faculty, following the student assessments they had conducted. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis to gauge their perceptions of the intervention's effectiveness and its alignment with workplace expectations. The findings revealed statistically significant improvements in communication and report writing skills for the intervention group compared to the control group, as demonstrated by independent and paired samples t-tests. However, the improvements in problem-solving were less pronounced. Industry supervisor assessments further underscored the critical role of industry involvement, showing notable differences between the groups. These findings align with global trends but highlight unique challenges in Uganda, such as shorter internships and limited industry resources. Feedback from oral interviews with industry supervisors and university faculty indicated a generally positive perception of the training. This industrial internship initiative continued for three consecutive annual cycles, expanding the training to all students without dividing them into groups. Verbal feedback indicated that while communication and report writing improved, problem-solving remained a challenge. By comparing the results with studies from developed countries like the USA, this research offers valuable insights for curriculum developers, instructors, industry leaders, and policymakers on strategies that can be adopted or adapted based on different educational contexts. The findings suggest that while the intervention was successful, further collaboration between universities and industry is needed to enhance the impact on students' professional skills. This model could be adopted by other engineering programs in Uganda and beyond to better prepare students for the workforce.