Profiling ECE Students Through Horizontal Skills

The paper discusses an experiment on the profiling of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) MSc students by requesting them to engage in activities requiring strong horizontal skills. The data was obtained during an introductory course (in the first semester of the programme). The conclusions obtained, based on grades obtained over a four year period, suggest that current generations of university freshmen are still unprepared to operate outside of their comfort zone namely when facing unexpected conditions. The findings also support a claim that students tend to engage in poorly effective communication, both among themselves and with the teachers.