Survey Results: How Does Lifelong Learning Enable Alumni Careers?

This paper presents findings from an engineering alumni survey intended to understand the role of lifelong learning in graduates’ careers. It builds on prior work aiming to clarify how engineering programs should address the important but nebulous CEAB graduate attribute. By contrasting alumni responses to the existing graduate attribute definition, we find opportunities to reconsider and clarify how the lifelong learning attribute is conceptualized. Survey respondents (n = 279) came from two undergraduate engineering departments at our institution and graduated between 1991 and 2020 (i.e. 1-30 years after graduation). Overall, respondents rated “maintaining competence in the field associated with your undergraduate degree” and “contributing to the advancement of knowledge in the field associated with your undergraduate degree” as less important than factors related to developing competency and advancing knowledge in domains outside of their undergraduate degree fields. Learning from others, learning for the purpose of innovating, and learning to develop empathy and emotional intelligence were additional factors that are not inherent in the CEAB definition of lifelong learning. These findings have implications for accreditation and licensure body intentions as well as the content and pedagogy of undergraduate curriculum.