English and Communication Skills for the Global Engineer

Communication skills are essential for an engineer who aspires to carry out his/her professional practice in the global arena. Engineering communication skills basically constitute several core elements such as the fluency in the English language and the fundamentals of visual communication. Evidence indicates that communication skills are what helped Homo sapiens evolve beyond our related ancestors, and that these skills have helped humankind develop into the advanced societies on Earth today [1]. However, these skills have become stifled in the very discipline that has brought so many advancements, and that is engineering. There is ample evidence that graduate engineers lack the required standard of communication skills, particularly when compared to the needs of industry internationally [2][3]. This can also be determined when considering related disciplines offered at universities (eg business). This is so much so that the Dean of Engineering at Duke University stated that ...engineers who are adept at communications have a considerable advantage over those who are not [4]. Furthermore, this lack of communication skills only English and Communication Skills for the Global Engineer