Teaching Z Generation Engineers. Using Entrepreneurship Education to Develop Soft Skills and Match Employers’ Expectations

Abstract

The first promotion of Z generation students is graduating in 2020. They are students born in the age of internet, who grew up with technology and information accessible at one click of the mouse. At the same time, they pose considerable challenges to current instructional methods which seem to no longer engage students in learning. The article aimed to bring together data from a range of articles to define Z generation students, in the context of engineering educational offers and employers’ expectations. The study was designed as an analysis of relevant research literature on Z generation characteristics, educational methods used in engineering and employers’ expectations. Results show Z generation students lack soft skills, including communication and information seeking abilities. Z generation students are entrepreneurial, have shorter attention spans, difficulties in understanding the labor market and a strong desire for customized curricula and hands-on approaches. Our conclusions suggest engineering teaching methods should focus more on active learning and problem-based learning techniques, while also integrating entrepreneurship to much higher extents in the course curricula.