INDUSTRIAL NEEDS FOR MODERN ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE IN CENTRAL EUROPEAN REGION – SURVEY RESULTS

ENGINEERING SKILLS, ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE, SMART PRODUCTS, SMART ENGINEERING, SMART PRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Academic partners from the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (UL-FME), Universities in Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (UZ-FMENA), and TU Wien recognized the need for a joint master's degree program, tailored to the needs of industry for engineers with interdisciplinary knowledge that is required for the development of new smart products. The survey was created by four question categories: (1) demographic category; (2) three sets of selective (Likert scale) questions and one open question to investigate the field of existing and needed engineering knowledge and expertise; (3) a set of selective questions about product development in the companies; (4) and a set of questions about the position and role of "smartness" of new products in the company's portfolio. Age distribution chart shows that approximately half of the respondents are within their first decade of working experience in engineering. Since education programs do not change rapidly, it can be concluded that half of the respondents can critically evaluate the knowledge provided by universities at the master's level, while at the same time the younger generations are usually more familiar with new trends and technologies. Project reference No: KA2-HE-09/17. 6 Nguyen, Duyen Q.; The Essential Skills and Attributes of an Engineer: A Comparative Study of Academics, Industry Personnel and Engineering Students, Global J. of Engineering Education, 2(1), p,p. 65-75, 1998 7 May, Elizabeth; Strong, David S.; Is Engineering Education Delivering What Industry Requires?; Proceedings of the Canadian Design Engineering Network (CDEN) Conference, Toronto, Canada, p.p. 24-26, 2006 8 Ramadi, Eric; Ramadi, Serge; Nasr, Karim; Engineering graduates' skill sets in the MENA region: a gap analysis of industry expectations and satisfaction; European Journal of Engineering Education, DOI: 10.1080/03043797.2015.1012707; 2015 9 Peng, Lijun; Zhang, Shulin; Gu, Jibao; Evaluating the competency mismatch between Master of Engineering graduates and industry needs in China, Studies in Higher Education, 41(3), p.p. 445-461, DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2014.942268, 2016 10 Spinks, Nigel; Silburn, Nicholas L. J.; Birchall, David W.; Making it all work: the engineering graduate of the future, a UK perspective, European Journal of Engineering Education, 32(3), p.p. 325-335, DOI