Early tools to steer engineering callings

In a prestigious and small private university devoted to Engineering, the admission process has been modified to include an interactive course about the purpose and requirements of applied sciences, called “Communication to Engineering”. Prospective students are introduced to engineering skills, ethics, design processes and the importance of basic science. They also develop an engineering project at the conceptual level, where group activities are encouraged and communication skills trained, resulting in a valuable tool to introduce real world issues. After submitting a detailed written report, students overcome a debate, where they had to show their newly acquired engineering style of thinking. After five years of practice, results have shown that our innovative course has helped the Engineering School in two significant ways: Attrition rates during freshman year have fallen by more than 10%. Student oral and written communication skills were enhanced. Conclusions were obtained from surveys among freshman´s professors and students´ interviews.