Аннотация
Engineering competencies are the basis of any engineering curriculum. However, different socio-economic contexts may cause employers, first, to have different perspectives on the importance of these competencies and, secondly, to perceive different levels of satisfaction with these competencies when employing recently graduated engineers. The purpose of this study is to contribute to country specific studies related to engineering competencies, and, to provide evidence for the importance of industry involvement when designing or adjusting an engineering curriculum. The industry perspective related to the importance of specific engineering competencies and satisfaction with these competencies among managers of engineers in Kuwait is compared with the perspective of managers of engineers in Kazakhstan. A questionnaire-based survey using a total of 159 managers of engineers in Kuwait and Kazakhstan are carried out and descriptive as well as inferential statistics (Wilcoxon test, Mann-Whitney U test) are applied. Of the 16 analyzed engineering competencies, ten competencies showed statistically different perspectives between managers of the two countries regarding the importance, and twelve competencies regarding the satisfaction. In Kuwait, the evaluation of importance of all competencies is statistically different from the satisfaction with these competencies. In Kazakhstan, the importance of 13 competencies is statistically different from the satisfaction with these competencies. The results confirm the need to analyze the industry perspective, before designing the curriculum, in order to incorporate industry expectations. Furthermore, the industry perspective of both countries regarding the importance of, and satisfaction with, these competencies presents a solid basis for curriculum adjustments. This study is part of an ongoing research effort related to engineering competencies in different contexts.