Software Development Projects as a Way for Multidisciplinary Soft and Future Skills Education

The modern job market demands soft and future skills from both technical and non-technical professionals. It is often challenging to teach these competencies in a traditional academic setting. This paper presents an effective approach for developing these skills through a short, intensive, joint project. While our case study is an Erasmus+ program, the methodology can be applied within various frameworks. We use problem-based and active learning, along with group work, to teach. The approach also emphasizes diversity by arranging multidisciplinary student groups to work on software development tasks. In our project, less than half of the participants had a computer science background, demonstrating that these tasks are engaging for non-technical students. The multicultural and international environment of the project is crucial in a global working environment, and its brief, intense nature helps simulate real-world stressful situations. This methodology provides a practical way to prepare students for the demands of the modern workplace. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the project in developing certain key skills, though not all competencies showed a measurable increase during the event’s short duration.