Preparation of technical posters as a tool to improve transversal competences of civil engineering studies

Adaptation to the European Higher Education Area implies a change of educational paradigm. In addition to the incorporation ofacademically directed activities and new tools for transmitting information, the change of approach also means new trainingexplicitly oriented to develop the new professional competences. This paper presents the results from a funded teaching projectaimed at exploring the use of the scientific poster as a tool to improve transversal competences in Civil Engineering students. Tocope with this objective, a total of 68 civil engineering students from two different universities in Spain and Ireland were chosen.The poster design allows students to do in-depth research on a specific topic and to engage its research inquiry. The student’sperception of this project was evaluated by means of two questionnaires surveyed prior and after the poster presentation. Theresearch findings suggest that the scientific posters elaboration enables the development of different transversal competences of thestudents such as comprehension and integration, teamwork and leadership reinforcement, and effective communication. About 94%of respondents felt that this activity was valuable in improving their communication skills.