Discussion and Conclusions

If we return to the research questions of the study formulated in the Introduction, we can now determine whether or not they have been answered. The first question,

‘which of the skills trained and developed through the SI-PASS Leadership are seen as most significant in hindsight?’, yields three main qualities: leadership confidence, and facilitation and presentation skills. These are also the qualities most commonly used in professional life after graduation. The main reported qualities may be influenced by the type of jobs that engineering students obtain after graduation, but the skills themselves are not specific to the field. Earlier studies agree that leadership confidence

and presentation qualities are valued by former SI-PASS leaders in their professional life. One study also reports that facilitation is an important quality in their jobs, while the others do not address this specifically. Generally, earlier studies include all skills mentioned in responses to open-ended questions, making it a bit difficult to deter-mine each skill’s importance.

Is the merit of being an SI-PASS leader seen as an advantage when applying for a job? The answer is yes, at least to some extent, for a clear majority of the respondents to the survey. If included in the CV, it is something that stands out in the eyes of an employer with respect to experiences of leadership and group management, as well as the requirements of taking responsibility and using social skills. This supports the conclusions in earlier studies (Chilvers & Waghorne, 2018; Malm, Mörner, & Bryng-fors, 2012). Almost every one of the respondents has had at least some minor use of qualities trained and developed while being an SI-PASS leader in their job, with half of the respondents having good or very good use of these skills. Thus, we conclude that SI-PASS experiences benefit former leaders in their professional life. This also supports the findings of previous research (Chilvers & Waghorne, 2018; Congos &

Stout, 2003; Lozada & Turner Johnson, 2018).

How are the findings above relevant to a wider context? If we, for instance, consider higher education in Sweden, about half of the higher education institutes (HEIs) have SI programmes of some sort (the sizes vary from SI programmes limited to a singular subject to those provided to most new students at the HEI). The findings above can provide additional incentives – besides helping new students to adjust to higher edu-cation or providing help in a challenging course – to establishing new SI programmes or expanding existing ones. Furthermore, if students become aware of what they gain skill-wise from being an SI leader, the position might become even more attractive.

This may in turn yield an even-better-equipped group of SI leaders, thus enhancing the quality of SI at the HEI. Although the results above are for former SI leaders in engineering at one HEI, they seem to agree with earlier studies. Thus, it seems rea-sonable to assume similar results for leaders from other subject areas and from other HEIs. SI is relatively unknown in Swedish society (although that has started to change, especially in the south where SI is used frequently in both higher education and high school), and employers are seldom aware of SI and what the experience signifies for a former SI leader seeking employment. However, new efforts to make leaders aware of what they gain during their experience as well as providing them with a uniform work certificate describing the SI leader role may change this. Since the former leaders in this study work in different parts of Sweden (combined with the fact that former leaders graduated from HEIs all over Sweden), the awareness of SI should become more general in Swedish society with time and not just localised to a specific region.

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