Future Engineering Education: What Competences are Energy ...

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Future Engineering Education: What Competences are Energy Companies Looking for when Recruiting Graduates with a Master of Science (Technology) Degree? Luzilla Backa & Margareta Wihersaari Åbo Akademi University, Vaasa, Finland

Corresponding author: Luzilla Backa, Åbo Akademi Vasa/Luzilla Backa, P.O. Box 311, 65101 Vaasa, Finland Email: [email protected], Phone: +358 3726 501

Abstract The energy business faces new challenges due to European Union (EU) 2020 regulations and the transition going on in energy systems towards more efficiency and a higher degree of renewable energy sources. The Vaasa region in Ostrobothnia, Finland, has a rapidly developing energy technology concentration with about 10,000 people employed in 120 companies with activities related to the energy sector. This study examined what kind of competence the energy companies need and what they consider when recruiting. By supplying them with a work force with the right skills the expectations are that companies will continue to prosper. The study was executed by interviewing key persons in the 10 biggest energy companies in the Vaasa region. Results indicated that the companies are looking for people with a solid technical background. Also more specialised knowledge like understanding how energy systems work was favourable. The study also showed that many companies are eager to recruit graduates that have both technical and economic competence. Other favourable competences are: a broad-know how base in electricity, information technology (IT), English and international communication. The findings indicate what skills and expertise to focus on when educating future engineers in the new Åbo Akademi programme – Masters of Science (Technology) Degree [MSc(Tech.)] in the field of energy technology. Even though this study was limited to one region it is probable that the conclusions can be useful for other engineering educators since many engineers and companies work globally and face the same challenges. Keywords: competences, employability, energy market, engineering education, recruitment

Introduction World energy management is facing great challenges due to a rapidly growing demand for energy that cannot, due to climate change, be delivered based on mainly fossil energy

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Engineering Education, Vol 9, Issue 1 (July 2014) doi:10.11120/ened.2014.00022

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sources as today. Implementing more renewables, lowering carbon dioxide emissions, increasing energy efficiency and introducing smart grids could open new markets and possibilities for new products and services for energy companies. The energy technology concentration in the Vaasa region is claimed to be the biggest in the Nordic countries and it is also an important agent on the global energy market (Energy Vaasa 2013). The need for energy is growing worldwide, especially in developing countries. Companies need to be innovative and have a highly qualified work force to keep up with the demands. The Vaasa region is one of the most important regions for innovation and energy solutions in Finland. One indicator of this is that Vaasa was appointed the engine for the theme ‘Sustainable Energy Solutions’ by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in the year 2013. The programme is called INKA and focuses on innovative cities. The purpose of it is to boost international competitiveness and enlarge projects to create new kinds of business with the cooperation of Finnish cities and the state (Vaasa 2013). The energy technology concentration in the Vaasa region employs 10,000 persons at the moment. That is one-quarter of Finland’s total energy sector manpower. The aim is to have the number of employees doubled by the year 2020. The region contributes to 30% of Finnish energy technology export and 12% of Finland’s total technology industry export (Energy Vaasa 2013). But from a long historical view nothing lasts forever. According to Katajamäki (2009) the Vaasa region is experiencing a long wave, a long period of economic expansion – meaning that the industry in the region is still growing – but the curve will plateau and then decline. This phenomenon differs from short-term business cycles that last a shorter period of time. Katajamäki (Dean, Vaasan yliopisto, interviewed 4 April 2013) identifies the current wave as the second long wave. The first wave occurred in the eighteenth century during the years of tar production. In a study by Johnson (2013) on Smart Specialisation the main focus is to map connectivity between stakeholders in the region. By filling out the gaps the aim is to increase the peaks and the specialist knowledge (Figure 1). This is believed to benefit the companies and also the region. Our study applies these thoughts but see them as missing competence instead of connectivity. By interviewing key persons at the energy companies with the most employees in the Vaasa region the aim is to map what they need to know and what to focus on in education. In a study by Arlett et al. (2010) the authors stress the importance of meeting the needs of the industry. The study shows that the role of the academic educators in engineering is crucial in order to provide students an experience-led degree. This is a concern since there are fewer academics with industry experience every year. This awakens the question if educators are able to provide the students with the experience-led education they need. Therefore there is a need for more collaboration between universities and industry. Arlett et al. (2010) states that the communication between universities and industries should be two-way and that both parties should understand the needs of one another. All universities are different and should take distinct approaches to this challenge, but there are some common principles that should be taken into consideration. This article explores what skills and qualifications the companies are asking for among their personnel. By doing this it is possible to find areas that could be improved in the present engineer education programmes in the Vaasa region. By supplying the industry with enough educated candidates for new positions and especially with wanted profiles the aim is to postpone a decline in the economy in the region. The article combined data from many fields. Firstly from the education programme, Masters of Science (Technology) Degree [MSc(Tech.)] in energy technology, in the Vaasa region, Ostrobothnia and the energy technology concentration were introduced. Next other © 2014 J. Davies, The Higher Education Academy

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Figure 1 Cross-sectoral platform (Johnson 2013, modified).

research on engineering education, student’s employability, recruiting in general and competences was presented. Then the business sector was involved by interviewing persons in key positions at the companies about what skills and expertise they value when recruiting, especially among young engineers applying for open positions. By combining these findings the education programme can be improved to better match the needs of the industry. This corresponds to the idea of Arlett et al. (2010) to support communication between universities and industries so both parties understand the needs of one another. The study strives to prepare the region for the future.

Description of the Vaasa region and the key activities Master of Science (Technology) in the field of energy technology at Åbo Akademi Energy and environmental technology is a new main subject at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Åbo Akademi University. The programme started in Vaasa in the year 2011. Students take courses both in Vaasa and Turku (Studiehandboken 2013). The education is a partnership between Åbo Akademi and Novia, the University of Applied Science, in Vaasa. Nationally, the energy technology education in Ostrobotnia plays a major role. Compared to other regions in Finland, Ostrobothnia and Vaasa has a large number of university students in the fields of energy technology and business. Every fifth person of the 67,000 inhabitants in Vaasa studies at a university or at a university for applied sciences. In all, 12,000 students study at a university in Vaasa. Research on how to improve energy sufficiency in the entire energy chains is also important in the city. An indicator that the companies also see the importance of the region is that two out of the three Finnish companies with most investments in research and development (R&D) have activities in Vaasa (Wärtsilä Finland Oy and ABBOy) (Aslani et al. 2013, Students Vaasa 2013). According to the Official Statistics of Finland (2012) Ostrobothnia had the sixth most investments in R&D of the regions in Finland. © 2014 J. Davies, The Higher Education Academy

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The Vaasa region and Ostrobothnia Ostrobothnia consists of 15 municipalities and four economic regions and is situated on the west coast of Finland (Figure 2). The province has 180,000 inhabitants with Vaasa as the capital. Approximately 50% speak Swedish in Ostrobothnia (Österbotten i siffror 2013a)

Member Municipalities in Ostrobothnia (Name in Swedish): Isokyrö (Storkyro), Kaskinen (Kaskö), Korsnäs, Kristiinankaupunki (Kristinestad), Kruunupyy (Kronoby), Laihia (Laihela), Luoto (Larsmo), Maalahti (Malax), Mustasaari (Korsholm), Närpiö (Närpes), Pedersören kunta (Pedersöre), Pietarsaari (Jakobstad), Uusikaarlepyy (Nykarleby), Vaasa (Vasa) and Vöyri (Vörå).

The Vaasa region consists of: Korsnäs, Maalahti (Malax), Mustasaari (Korsholm), Vaasa (Vasa) and Vöyri (Vörå).

Figure 2 Ostrobothnia and the Vaasa region (Ostrobothnia 2013).

Ostrobothnia has one of the highest potentials for new renewable energy sources. There are 150 companies connected to the renewable industry in Ostrobothnia. One hundred and twenty of them are located in the Vaasa region. They are energy manufacturers or engineering-service companies who supply principally wind technology (Aslani et al. 2013, Energy Vaasa 2013).

The energy technology concentration The energy technology concentration in the Vaasa region is claimed to be the leader in Finland and the biggest in the Nordic countries. It is also believed to have great importance internationally (Österbottens förbund 2010). Eight out of 10 of the energy companies with the highest number of employees in the Vaasa region work globally. Wärtsilä has approximately 18,000 employees working in nearly 200 locations in 70 countries worldwide (Wärtsilä 2013). The second biggest company in Vaasa, ABB, has more than 150,000 employees in about 100 countries (ABB 2013). The other six companies also work globally in various locations. Apart from travelling, the work load shared inside the worldwide network is not too much dependent on where the employee is graphically situated. Because of the internationality of the companies, it is safe to presume that the findings of the study can be useful for others who work in developing engineering education. According to Energy Vaasa (2013) the revenue of the energy technology concentration is four billion, 70% is export. The energy technology concentration employs half of the workforce within industry in Ostrobothnia (Österbotten i siffror 2013b).


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ETLA (the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy) predicted that the importance of the energy technology concentration will increase. For the industry in Ostrobothnia there were more vacant jobs, compared to the recession year 2009 (ELY-Centre 2013). But unemployment is also increasing in the industry; 8299 persons were unemployed in Ostrobothnia in September 2013 that is 1323 persons more than one year ago. Still, Ostrobothnia has the second best employment-situation, compared to the rest of Finland. ELY-centre (2013) also provides an occupational barometer (Pohjanmaa amattibarometteri) that shows what kind of occupations that are in demand. The study indicates that there is a shortage of electrical engineers and technicians in the region. In another occupational forecast (Peltola 2012) the Vaasa region will need more persons with skills in electricity, electronics, chemistry, metals and machines 2012–2016.

The future of engineering education There are only a few Finnish studies on MSc(Tech.) education programmes. One of the more recent studies was made by Korhonen-Yrjänheikki (2011). The study concludes that today’s engineers need to transform from technical problem-solvers to more cooperative creators. They should also know the needs of a rapidly changing society – the students need to be diverse and lifelong learners. The collaboration between universities and the companies should be strengthened. The study also stresses a more international learning environment for the engineers. Findings from international engineering studies can also be applied to Finnish conditions. Engineers work globally and it is plausible to assume that the same tendencies can be noted. According to Sunthonkanokpong (2011) future engineers in Thailand should be lifelong learners and be able to frame problems. Engineers should also be flexible, have high ethical standards, and a strong sense of professionalism. The author also stresses communication and analytics skills, practical inventiveness, creativity, business and management skills and leadership abilities as qualities for successful engineers. Duderstadt (2008) sees many challenges for future engineers in the United States. He lists demographics, globalisation and rapidly evolving technologies as factors that will change the role of engineers in society. This will demand broader skills and in the future it will not be enough for an engineer to master only a scientific and technological discipline. According to Duderstadt (2008) the off-shoring of engineering jobs is a problem in the United States. It is difficult to analyse the situation in Finland – the latest study was done in 2008 when Deschryvere and Kotiranta concluded that every other firm anticipated an increase in employment in Finland. But poor economic development has led to some major changes since their study so the results may not be reliable. Other challenges, according to Duderstadt (2008), are the decline of student’s interest in scientific and engineering careers. According to Koulutusnetti (2013)1 there seems to be the same tendency that Duderstadt finds concerning the United States. In 2006–2008, 30% of all applicants applied for an education programme in technology or logistics to a university of applied sciences, after that the amount has decreased. From 2009–2013 around 20% applied to these types of programmes.

The employability of students Creasy (2013) lists a good degree, generic skills and different personal attributes as qualifications for improving the employability. According to the Royal Academy of Engineering (2007) companies are looking for graduates who have both a sound educational background, as well as ‘soft skills’ like creativity and innovation and implementation skills. They should also know how to communicate and how to work in


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teams. The study also supports the idea that graduates become business-minded and understand consequences of their ‘engineering decisions and investments’. In a more recent study by the Royal Academy of Engineering (2010) larger companies are cautious about focusing too much on these ‘soft skills’. They worry that non-technical studies would weaken the mathematics and engineering skills of the graduates. Instead larger companies would prefer that universities gave graduates a sound technical background, and then the companies are able to give their employees the right kind of additional competence on the job.

Recruitment in general There are a lot of facts to take in to consideration when recruiting. According to Knocke et al. (2003) a correct recruitment process is an important means to get the most competent personnel. The study identifies five stages of recruitment (Table 1). Table 1 The five stages of recruitment (Knocke et al. 2003). Job advertisements Sorting Evaluation Ranking Decision

The goal is to spread the information about the organisation who is looking for employees. This is accomplished by selecting the appropriate channels for advertising. The number of the applicants has to be reduced to a manageable number. Interviews, tests, references, and so on will be the foundation to estimate if a person is fit for a job. Based on the tests, group discussions or any other means that has been used to rank the applicants according to their qualities. The election of the applicant can be implemented in different ways, by the employer or with varying degrees of influence from the co-workers.

Vaahtio (2007) points out that every company has to define their own criteria when looking for personnel. By thoroughly listing what kind of tasks are in the job description the company has the best possibility to find the perfect match.

Competences According to Roos et al. (2006), competence, knowledge, and skills can be described as a part of a person’s ‘intellectual capital’. In this description the researchers also include the image of the organisation and the relations that the organisations has with customers, partners, distributors and other external stakeholders. This study suggests that intellectual capital increases the value of the company. Höglund (2002) distinguishes between ‘competence’ and ‘qualification’. The difference is that ‘competence’ is something an individual has while qualification is something closely connected to the work tasks. Granberg (2009) defines competence as formal qualifications for a task or a job position. According to Granberg there are different types of competence. One of them is formal competence. As a rule formal competence is connected to an education that the individual has undertaken. In this study Granberg’s definition of formal competence was applied. EU (2006) listed key competences for undertaking the challenge of globalisation. They see lifelong learning as a means to adapt to a changing and interconnected world. To be a lifelong learner one should know how to communicate in their mother tongue and foreign languages. One should also have mathematical competence, basic competences in science and technology, and digital competence. It is also important to learn to learn, have social and civic competences, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, and cultural awareness. In a report the regional council of Ostrobothnia (2013) came to similar conclusions. Their study showed that the within the sectors of energy, business, and elderly care in Ostrobothnia it would be important to know how to communicate internationally and in an © 2014 J. Davies, The Higher Education Academy

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international environment. English is crucial, but also Russian, French, Chinese and Japanese would be beneficial. The importance of networking should also be stressed. In the energy sector biosciences could be a new possibility.

Research question The aim of this study was to find development issues within education that could make the companies more successful by supplying them with the right kind of candidates for open engineer positions. With more competence that focuses on the key issues of the companies the goal is to achieve this. One of the hypotheses was that the companies will value the ability to work in an international environment. This is based on the fact that the energy and environmental technology companies in the Vaasa region will soon be the biggest part of the Finnish export (Energy Vaasa 2013). The expectation is that the understanding of foreign business will be more demanded in the future. Another hypothesis was that the respondents are looking for a certain kind of competence and the aim was to find out which. According to Vaahtio (2007) the best possibility to find the perfect match for an open job position is to thoroughly list what kind of tasks there are in the job description the company has. Other competences are also briefly discussed in our study, but the main focus was competence that the MSc(Tech.) education programme can provide. In the interviews the respondents also discussed other determinants in the recruiting process (experience from the same kind of job or business field, education and personal qualities).

Mapping needs of the industry Key persons at 10 companies with the most employees in the energy technology concentration in the Vaasa region were interviewed for this study. Since Wärtsiläis the biggest of the companies two persons in different positions were interviewed.2 Also from The Switch two persons from different departments were interviewed.3 The interviews started with a brief presentation of the MSc(Tech.) in Energy Technology at Åbo Akademi. There was a risk of introducing bias in the survey, but it was considered more important to introduce the programme so that the respondents could put it into context by understanding the current situation. Precaution was taken in this process. The respondents were given a chance to glance through the Student’s guide on a course-name level. All the interviews were preceded by an e-mail correspondence with a presentation (Appendix 1) and sometimes with a phone call as well. During the interview process it was noted that in some cases there was a need for a complementary technical comment. Therefore the respondents were encouraged to discuss this issue with their colleagues before the meeting. Most of the interviews were in Swedish or Finnish and at the companies, except for the interview with the CEO of Crimppi.4 Some of the respondents preferred not to be recorded; therefore none of the interviews were recorded. To make sure that there were no misinterpretations the respondents were asked to read an outline of the discussion. The respondents also had a chance to comment on the paper before the publication. The method utilised was a form of a semi-structured interview technique. The interviews were based on the questions in Appendix 2, but there was also room for follow-up questions. By avoiding too specific questions the aim was to have an open discussion. The study consisted of interviews with 12 people from 10 companies, six women and six men. Three of the respondents were Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of their companies, six worked in Human Resources (HR)-departments as managers, specialists or assistants. A managing director, a vice president and manager were also interviewed. This study also included Uponor Infra Oy.5 © 2014 J. Davies, The Higher Education Academy

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In Table 2, the companies and the respondents are briefly introduced. Wärtsilä Finland Oy (Wärtsilä 2013), ABB Oy, Vacon Oy (Vacon 2013), Uponor Infra Oy (former KWH-Pipe Oy), VEO Oy (VEO 2013), CitecOyAb (Citec 2013), Wapice (Wapice Oy 2013), Vaasan Sähkö (Vaasan Sähkö 2013), Crimppi Oy and The Switch have the most employees in the Vaasa region.6

Results At the moment of the interviews the majority of the companies were recruiting, had made big recruitments or were planning to recruit. Figure 3 shows the engineering competences the companies in the Vaasa region are looking for. Figure 4 shows other important competences listed by the respondents. In the following section the competences that two respondents, or more, mentioned will be presented.

What is important when recruiting? What stands out the most in this research is that almost every one of the respondents agreed that the most important thing when recruiting is that the applicant has the basic know-how in engineering that is required, for example solid knowledge in mathematics. As one of the respondents says: With a solid technical background it is easier to solve problems. In ‘Common professional studies’ the most important thing for the respondents was a broad know-how base in electricity, for example production of electricity (fuel combustion and engine know-how). Another competence was automation technology; including plant automation and production automation. During the interviews three of the respondents mentioned competence in energy systems, and efficient energy systems as important. Within the system one can find distribution, fuels, grid system, grid operations (Transmission System Operator), energy efficiency, energy saving and future production and consumption. Once you know how the energy systems work, then you can take on the climate challenge and for example study the legislation of emissions. Two of the respondents also stressed the importance of understanding power plant technology and power plant systems, for example, hydro-, gas turbine combined-cycle (GTCC)- and nuclear-power plants. Also boiler and gas turbine plants running on gas biofuels or coal were mentioned. Another competence listed is fuels, for example, usage of fuels and gas/liquefied natural gas (LNG) related know-how. Also knowledge in frequency converter solutions was mentioned by two respondents. The majority of the respondents see business studies as an important competence. Especially sales skills was a favourable competence for a MSc(Tech.) degree. Finns are seldom natural born sellers; therefore the education should stress this competence. Another competence that would be favourable is energy politics and legislation, both nationally and on an EU-level. Knowing what role energy and energy decisions play in the society would be important. Four of the respondents emphasised information technology and software skills. Three of the companies listed competence in project management as an important skill. The respondents also mentioned leadership and supervisor skills. © 2014 J. Davies, The Higher Education Academy

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Table 2 Figures describing the interviewed companies and the interviews performed during May and August 2013.

Company N = respondents

Profile of respondent Employed in Employed in Vaasa region, HR personnel Finland, Leading persons persons personnel

Wärtsilä Finland Oy (2)

3000

Date of interview (2013)

3000

Master of Science in Business and Economics

Managing director

28 August

M.Sc.(Tech.) degree in Mechanical Engineering

Vice president of division

10 May

ABB Oy (1)

6600

2100

Bachelor of Business Administration Vacon Oy (1)

800

1000

VEO Oy (1)

400