Progress on the SEFI Handbook on Teaching Transferable Competencies and Skills

The SEFI Handbook on Teaching Transferable Competencies and Skills is gaining momentum!

Since its launch in Lausanne, interest in the project has been very positive, with more than 110 team and individual expressions of interest—representing over 200 contributors from five continents and 26 countries, including 15 from Europe.

Expanding the handbook

To ensure inclusivity and capture a diverse range of perspectives, all proposals have been evaluated based on merit rather than academic status. Staying true to SEFI’s values, author teams have been structured based on equality, with no pre-assigned lead or first authors—each team will determine this internally. Furthermore, all chapters will feature a CRediT Statement (CRediT) to ensure proper recognition of contributions, as per the publisher’s best practices.

Originally planned as a 42-chapter volume, the enthusiastic responses led to an extension of the handbook to 49 chapters across five sections. Whenever possible, international, multi-institutional author teams have been created to bring a rich, global perspective to the work.

Currently, confirmation from contributors is awaited before officially kicking off the writing phase. The first round of chapter reviews is set for 1 September 2025.

Securing a publisher

TU Delft OPEN has been confirmed as the publisher for the handbook under a CC-BY licence as part of their education series. This ensures that all authors retain copyright, and the handbook will be freely available online. For those who prefer a physical copy, print-on-demand options will be available at a minimal cost.

Meet the editorial team

The dedicated editorial team overseeing this ambitious project includes:

Lead Editors:

  • Gillian Saunders-Smits (TU Delft, NL)
  • Lynn van den Broeck (KU Leuven, BE)
  • Thies Johannsen (TU Berlin, DE)

Part Editors:

  • Part I – Competencies: Context & Challenges
    • Thies Johannsen (TU Berlin, DE), Lynn van den Broeck (KU Leuven, BE), Gillian Saunders-Smits (TU Delft, NL)
  • Part II – Embedding Competencies and Skills in Your Classes
    • Kurt Coppens (KU Leuven, BE), Helena Kovacs (EPFL, CH), Abel Nyamphene (UCL, UK), Matteo di Benedetti (University of Sheffield, UK), Thies Johannsen (TU Berlin, DE)
  • Part III – Assessing Competencies and Skills
    • Jenny Griffiths (UCL, UK), Esther Perea Borobio (UK), Lynn van den Broeck (KU Leuven, BE)
  • Part IV – Embedding Transferable Competencies and Skills at the Curriculum Level: The Current State-of-the-Art
    • Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham, UK), Emanuela Tilley (UCL, UK), Gillian Saunders-Smits (TU Delft, NL)
  • Part V – Evaluating Needs, Interventions, and Outcomes of Skills and Competencies
    • Natascha van Hattum-Janssen (Saxion University of Applied Sciences, NL), Esther Ventura-Medina (Eindhoven University of Technology, NL), Gillian Saunders-Smits (TU Delft, NL)

Looking Ahead

The SEFI Handbook on Teaching Transferable Competencies and Skills remains on track for unveiling at the SEFI Annual Conference in Prague in 2026. As the writing and review stages progress, further updates and insights will be shared.

A huge thank you to everyone involved—enthusiasm and dedication are shaping a resource that will have a lasting impact on engineering education worldwide. Stay tuned for more updates!

Related Posts

Back To Top