IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v15y2025i1p12-d1566750.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Humanities Education for Engineering Students: Enhancing Soft Skills Development

Author

Listed:
  • Fouzia Munir

    (Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth 6031, South Africa)

Abstract

Engineering is a vital profession in our society as it provides innovative and creative solutions to problems faced by humanity to improve the quality of life. Engineering decisions and designs affect not only humans but they also affect the entire planet. While solving global problems around the world, engineers work with and for diverse people in varied contexts. That is why, in addition to their technical expertise, engineers need knowledge of the humanities. They need soft skills. Soft skills enable engineers to function effectively in teams and to design solutions considering the human perspective. While academics and professionals have acknowledged the importance of soft skills alike, the incorporation of these skills in engineering programmes has been slow. The aim of this study was to enhance the development of soft skills by incorporating literature in the form of a novel, Lord of the Flies , as part of a communication module for engineering undergraduates. The main research question was whether a novel can be useful in promoting soft skills among engineering students. Qualitative and quantitative data, in the form of interviews and a questionnaire, were collected from the students about the value of this novel in enhancing their soft skills. It was found that, as a result of this intervention, they became more aware of these skills and the application of said skills in their daily lives. This study argues for the inclusion of humanities education for engineering students to develop their soft skills and to inspire human values in them.

Suggested Citation

  • Fouzia Munir, 2025. "Humanities Education for Engineering Students: Enhancing Soft Skills Development," Societies, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-20, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:15:y:2025:i:1:p:12-:d:1566750
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/1/12/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/1/12/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heckman, James J. & Kautz, Tim, 2012. "Hard evidence on soft skills," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 451-464.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lea Cassar & Mira Fischer & Vanessa Valero, 2022. "Keep Calm and Carry On: Immediate-vs. Six-Month Effects of Mindfulness Training on Academic Performance," CESifo Working Paper Series 10099, CESifo.
    2. Hendrik Jürges & Luca Stella & Sameh Hallaq & Alexandra Schwarz, 2022. "Cohort at risk: long-term consequences of conflict for child school achievement," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 1-43, January.
    3. Lechner, Michael & Sari, Nazmi, 2015. "Labor market effects of sports and exercise: Evidence from Canadian panel data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-15.
    4. Estrellado, Emmanuel & Charoensilp, Pimmada & Yamada, Shoko, 2023. "The effects of game-based soft skills training: A quasi-experiment with Ethiopian garment workers," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    5. Nataliya Kusa, 2018. "Should intra-familial time transfers be compensated financially?," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201802, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    6. Vaaramo, Mikko & Huikari, Sanna & Ala-Mursula, Leena & Miettunen, Jouko & Korhonen, Marko, 2024. "Temperament traits and economic preferences predict occupational choice beyond human capital variables," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    7. LaFave, Daniel & Thomas, Duncan, 2017. "Extended families and child well-being," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 52-65.
    8. Fulvia Pennoni & Beata Bal-Domańska, 2022. "NEETs and Youth Unemployment: A Longitudinal Comparison Across European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 739-761, July.
    9. Stephen Yeaple & Chong Xiang, 2017. "Educational Quality along Multiple Dimensions: A Cross-Country Analysis," 2017 Meeting Papers 510, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Shubha Chakravarty & Sarah Haddock & Ioana Botea, 2016. "Providing Out-of-School Adolescent Girls with Skills," World Bank Publications - Reports 24571, The World Bank Group.
    11. David J. Deming, 2017. "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1593-1640.
    12. Calderone, Margherita & Fiala, Nathan & Melyoki, Lemayon Lemilia & Schoofs, Annekathrin & Steinacher, Rachel, 2022. "Making intense skills training work at scale: Evidence on business and labor market outcomes in Tanzania," Ruhr Economic Papers 950, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    13. Mihails Hazans & Jaan Masso & Per Botolf Maurseth, 2023. "Human values and selection into supervisory positions: Evidence from nine European countries," EGEIWP 01-2023, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised Dec 2023.
    14. Jieping Shi & Hui Qiu & Aohua Ni, 2023. "The Moderating Role of School Resources on the Relationship Between Student Socioeconomic Status and Social-Emotional Skills: Empirical Evidence from China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(5), pages 2349-2370, October.
    15. Shelly Lundberg, 2013. "The College Type: Personality and Educational Inequality," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(3), pages 421-441.
    16. Ruzica Savcic & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos & Dimitrios Xefteris, 2023. "Conscription and educational outcomes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 2799-2824, October.
    17. Pablo Lavado & Nelson Oviedo & Hernán Ruffo, 2016. "Destruction of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills in Adulthood," Working Papers 16-07, Centro de Investigación, Universidad del Pacífico.
    18. Calero, Carla & Gonzalez Diez, Veronica & Soares, Yuri S.D. & Kluve, Jochen & Corseuil, Carlos Henrique, 2017. "Can arts-based interventions enhance labor market outcomes among youth? Evidence from a randomized trial in Rio de Janeiro," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 131-142.
    19. Vittadini, Giorgio & Sturaro, Caterina & Folloni, Giuseppe, 2022. "Non-Cognitive Skills and Cognitive Skills to measure school efficiency," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    20. Dalton,Patricio S. & Ruschenpohler,Julius & Zia,Bilal Husnain, 2018. "Determinants and dynamics of business aspirations : evidence from small-scale entrepreneurs in an emerging market," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8400, The World Bank.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:15:y:2025:i:1:p:12-:d:1566750. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.