2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

As engineering work becomes increasingly global in nature, developing global competence in engineering students is crucial (Grandin & Hirleman, 2009). These skills are often fostered through study abroad and global engineering programs. These programs have been shown to influence students’ intercultural learning outcomes (Davis & Knight, 2021; Levonisova et al., 2015). However, previous studies have primarily focused on short-term outcomes, gathering data either immediately after the study abroad experience or during undergraduate studies (e.g., Ingraham & Peterson, 2004; McNeill & Cox, 2011; Preuss et al., 2020). Little information exists on how global programs affect the career outcomes of engineering graduates. Phase 1 of our project (funded through Research in the Formation of Engineers program) focuses on the development and deployment of a survey exploring the impact of global undergraduate experiences on global career outcomes.

To develop the survey for this study, we sourced and adapted questions from the Pathways of Engineering Alumni Research Survey (PEARS) (Chen et al., 2012), the Cultural Intelligence Survey (CQS; Ang et al., 2007) and the Global Engineering Competence (GEC) scale (Mazzurco et al., 2020), and the global engineering survey used by Davis et al. (2023). We introduced new questions to understand global activities participants undertake in their engineering work. We developed the survey in six phases: (1) Initial survey development, (2) modifications after advisory board meeting, (3) think-aloud interviews, (4) time tests, and (5) a large-scale survey pilot. The survey instrument was refined at each stage until the final version was deployed in Fall of 2024.

In this paper, we discuss decision-making processes for the initial survey development and report on outcomes of each stage of its development and the pilot deployment. We also describe modifications made to the survey through each stage of the development process. Preliminary findings from the survey pilot suggest that global undergraduate experiences influence alumni's career choices, particularly by influencing their pursuit of international job roles, increase their interest in multicultural teamwork, and provide key connections that aid career development. A regression analysis also revealed that involvement in global job tasks significantly predicts an engineer's global engineering competence but does not necessarily predict their cultural intelligence. In the final version of the paper, we will include additional results from our Fall 2024 survey deployment.

This survey instrument can be a tool for evaluating the long-term impacts of global engineering programs. Identifying long term outcomes of undergraduate experiences can provide motivation for continued investment in development, implementation, and improvement of access to such programs. Furthermore, the insights gained from this study can directly inform the design and structure of global engineering programs to better serve students. By tailoring programs based on long-term feedback, educators can ensure that these experiences align more closely with the evolving demands of the global workforce.