Nurturing employment competence through practical guidance of younger students by senior students: Verifying educational effects using a four year questionnaire survey

From 2010 until 2015, the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sasebo College of Technology, Japan, has conducted an employment competence development curriculum involving the practical guidance of younger students by senior students in order to nurture students´ employment competence. This paper introduces the content of this curriculum and reports on the verification of its educational effectiveness based on the results of a four-year questionnaire survey. It investigated various aspects of educational competence to identify the competencies that senior students gained as well as the competencies they thought difficult, important, or interesting. The paper also presents guidelines for a future curriculum based on the results of the survey.