The engineering professional profiles have been discussed by several branches of the engineering field. On the one hand, this discussion helps to understand the professional practice and contributes to the specification of the competences that are suitable for each function and company culture. On the other hand, it is an essential starting point for the definition of curricula in engineering schools. Thus, this study aims to characterize, in an innovative way based on job advertisements, the demand for competences and areas of practice for Industrial Engineering and Management contributing for the definition of a professional profile. This characterization is based on the analysis of 1391 job advertisements, collected during seven years from a Portuguese newspaper. The data analysis takes into account the job description in which two categories were considered: areas of professional practice (e.g. project management) and transversal competences (e.g. teamwork). Considering the total number of job advertisements, it was possible to identify 1,962 cumulative references for 11 professional practice areas and 5,261 cumulative references for transversal competences. The contribution of this study lies on the identification of the main areas of practice and the main transversal competences demanded by employers.

Erasmus mobility is a valuable opportunity for students to explore not only new cultures and costumes but also learning practices and experiences. Every year, at the University of Minho there are many undergraduate students interested in the Erasmus program, however, there are several reasons that prevent them from moving forward. Aiming to help clarify students’ questions and fears about the Erasmus experience, the Department of Production and Systems - DPS of the University of Minho decided to create a continuous improvement tool. The first step consisted of evaluating what motivated students to perform Erasmus whose results are analyzed in the present study. For this purpose, a questionnaire was developed and implemented with engineering students at the DPS who applied to the Erasmus program for the 2021/2022 academic year. The main personal reasons to study abroad pointed out by students were the fact that they think they will like the experience and that it will be interesting for them, as well as the fact that it is personally important for them. Despite this, many students consider Erasmus something they should do. Furthermore, it was found that the Erasmus coordination of the DPS played a fundamental role in their decision to conduct the Erasmus mobility.

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