Challenges in teaching non-technical subjects in a technical environment

In the Czech Republic, most technical universities still underestimate non-technical subjects, although they have been part of their study programmes for a significant period of time. Non-technical subjects are usually labeled as optional subjects. Moreover, these subjects are not given time enough to be efficient. Also, the credit rating of non-technical subjects is not interesting enough to attract large quantities of students. Students are supposed to become technical specialists, and facing this basic fact, university authorities make sophisticated study programmes of technical education without considering any other necessary skills apart from the technical ones. The necessary skills of a young successful specialist consist of not only the technical skills, but also of the basic knowledge of psychology, sociology, business ethics, economics and soft-skill-techniques. Connecting technical and non-technical knowledge creates the synergy effect and young people become much more valuable in labour market. This paper is dealing with one of the possible approaches to education of non-technical subjects in a technical environment. It is presented on a case study of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic). Both, the achievements and the failures of this approach will be emphasized.