How Can Engineering Students Learn Leadership Skills? The Leadership Development Program in Engineering (PROLIDER) at EESC-USP, Brazil

This article aims to describe the Leadership Development Program in Engineering (PROLIDER)-a partnership between the Sao Carlos School of Engineering (EESC), University of Sao Paulo (USP) and Brazilian Companies. The PROLIDER has gained importance with its partners because it assists engineering students to develop leadership and management skills still during their undergraduate course. Since 1999, approximately 150 engineering students from two public universities located in Sao Carlos, Brazil (250km far from Sao Paulo City) have taken part in this Program. The undergraduate students are usually involved in the program during the last year of their course and are employed as trainees by the partner companies, which provide financial support for the program. At the end of each year of the program and after finishing their engineering degree, the students are ready to be employed by these companies as engineers (junior analysts, consultants, etc.). The retention rate is extremely high during the transition of the students from the program to the companies that participate in each yearly program. After some years, it is normal that some engineers change their jobs, but the retention rate still remains satisfactory. The industry partners of the program have also observed a faster development of these newcomer engineers in order to assume management and leadership roles. In general, the program benefits engineering students in terms of intensive development in leadership and managerial skills. The program also has a positive impact on students because it encourages discussion to improve the curricula of the engineering courses of the Sao Carlos School of Engineering at the University of Sao Paulo including more leadership skills content. Companies are also benefited by the program as there are more prepared newcomer engineers for their strategic job positions. Researchers can also obtain results from this program by doing multidisciplinary research in areas such as engineering education in leadership, leadership development for engineers, and so on. Therefore, universities and engineering courses should encourage professors and researchers to pay more attention to this kind of initiative that demands time and effort.