Integrating digital literacy into higher education curriculum: a need analysis on the gap in digital literacy skills among engineering students

Digital literacy is a fundamental skill in today’s technology-driven workplace. Yet, there is a discrepancy between the digital skills acquired by engineering students in India and those demanded by employers. This study explores the digital literacy skill gaps by analyzing surveys administered to 128 s & third-year engineering students from five universities in Tamil Nadu and Telangana states in India and conducting interviews with six industry professionals. The survey questionnaire is developed from UNESCO’s global framework to evaluate students’ self-assessed digital literacy skills. Simultaneously, qualitative data on the industry expectation of key competencies was collected from six industry experts. Using a mixed-method approach, this study analyses responses collected through quantitative surveys utilizing R programming and relates it with qualitative insights derived from interviews. The results reveal that a majority of students have acknowledged that they lack advanced digital skills across competence areas like device and software operations, information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, creation of digital content, safety, problem-solving, and competencies related to careers, the expected skillsets that employers shared in their interviews. Based on the findings, the study establishes the importance of calibrating engineering curriculum with industry needs by offering recommendations for policymakers to incorporate the teaching of advanced digital skills in the engineering curriculum and for educators to collaborate with industrial recruiters to enhance students’ digital literacy competencies.