Preparing for the solar challenge: Critical competences acquired in undergraduate engineering education

Engineers are expected to function in a highly competitive environment, which demands that projects are developed in increasingly efficient and cost-effective ways, across various disciplines. This trend necessitates multidisciplinary collaboration which requires both traditional engineering skills and so called `soft skills´, such as good communicative competences and working cooperatively in teams. In this paper it is described how these skills were developed in the course of the University of Johannesburg´s preparation for participation in the biannual Solar Challenge.