CHALLENGING ENGINEERING STUDENTS WITH UNCERTAINTY IN A VUCA SITUATION

Abstract

Engineering practice is gradually becoming more affected by the need for agility, and the dynamic nature of today’s world has impacted how situations are addressed, projects are managed and decisions are made. Anticipating a rapidly changing world, future engineers must have competence to manage situations which may be volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). Engineering education programs may therefore want to consider instilling some VUCA aspects into their training, aiming to prepare graduates to confront unexpected situations in the context of decision-making and leadership as recommended in the CDIO Syllabus 2.0.

The engineering programs at Reykjavik University (RU) have for several years run a two day “Disaster Week” early in the first semester, an event were students are faced with a disaster of some sort. In the fall semester event 2017 it was decided to analyze by a survey carried out at the completion of the event, the VUCA dimensions of the event and the dynamics within the teams. The participants were a group of 230 first-year students, working in 40 teams. This study shows that challenging engineering students with uncertainty in the VUCA-spirit is a good way to both train and instill a positive view towards teamwork among students, and may lead to a more confident and positive attitude when faced with volatile and uncertain tasks later in their studies.