Soft Skills Across Gender and Type of University for Malaysian University Students: A Logistic Regression Analysis (original) (raw)
Related papers
Soft Skills' refers to behavioral competencies and also known as Interpersonal Skills, or people skills. As required by the Ministry of Higher Education, they include proficiencies such as communication skills, creative & critical thinking skills, teamwork skills, ethical moral skills, leadership skills, lifelong learning skills and entreprenuership skills. The main objective of this study is to demonstrate the relationship in graduates' soft skills among research and nonresearch universities in Malaysia. A large sample was obtained from several local universities via administration of My3S in 2012. Independent t test analyses were done on this sample to investigate mean differences among the two types of universities in Malaysia (RU and non RU) across all 7 soft skills components mean scores. The most compelling result of this study demonstrated quite a surprise. It is shown that all 7 soft skill components are significantly different across RU and Non RU.
Asian Journal of University Education, 2012
This study aims to compare the soft skills achievement of engineering, medical and education students attending Malaysian public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). A total of 38,296 final year students from the engineering, medical and education faculties were involved in this study. Data on seven soft skills elements – communication, critical thinking and problem solving, leadership, teamwork, moral and professional, life-long learning and information management, and entrepreneurship - collected using Malaysian Soft Skills Scale (My3S) were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed significant differences in the scores for all seven soft skill elements among students from the three fields of study with the exception of teamwork skill scores between medical and engineering students.
Soft Skills' refers to behavioral competencies and also known as Interpersonal Skills, or people skills. As required by the Ministry of Higher Education, they include proficiencies such as communication skills, creative & critical thinking skills, teamwork skills, ethical moral skills, leadership skills, lifelong learning skills and entreprenuership skills. The main objective of this study is to demonstrate the difference(s) in soft skills among Science graduates and Non Science graduates in Malaysian universities. A large sample was obtained from several local universities from administration of My3S in 2011. Independent t test analyses were done on this sample to investigate mean differences across subject field type. The results showed that all 6 soft skills components mean scores are significantly different for Science and Non Science graduates, while only one soft skill (critical thinking skills)were not. This is also true when the same analyses were done across gender. Finally result showed that in terms of ethnicity, Malay graduates showed significant difference across all 6 soft skills components, whereas the other two ethnic groups did not show significant difference.
A NATIONWIDE COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ SOFT SKILLS
The main function of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) is to produce skilled and knowledgeable workforce who are able to not only function with minimal guidance but also to contribute effectively to the hiring organizations. Many studies have indicated that most HEIs have somewhat similar course content and thrived at producing students with good academic achievement. But what differentiated them from one another is their ability to develop knowledge workers with the right employability skills or 'soft skills' such as communication, problemsolving, interpersonal and other skills deemed important as the foundations by which they require to function at work regardless of the nature of employment. This paper reports findings of a large-scale study looking into the soft skills attainment of Malaysian HEI graduates. A quantitative survey design was employed whereby data were obtained through the administration of an instrument called the Malaysian Soft Skills Scale (My3S). My3S consists of 180 items covering seven elements namely Communications, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Teamwork, Moral and Professional Ethics, Leadership, Life Long Learning and Entrepreneurial aspects. The mean scores for the seven My3S subscales were found to be between 6.3 and 7.8 from the maximum possible score of 10. Specifically, comparisons were made between graduates of public and private institutions with respect to the seven elements. Findings of the study suggest that, in general, students of public HEIs scored higher in all seven skills. With respect to gender, male students scored higher than female students in all elements except for teamwork skills and moral and professional ethics. A comparison between fields of study showed that for both types of HEIs, technical students scored the highest in all skills except for moral and professional ethics. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that in addition to offering specific courses to improve soft skills attainment, HEIs need to embed soft skills in their academic curricula.
Sharp focus on soft skills: a case study of Malaysian university students’ educational expectations
In 2006, the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, recommended that all public institutions of higher learning in the country incorporate soft skills formation into their curricula. This qualitative study aimed to explore Malaysian students’ expectations of university education with a special focus on the acquisition of soft skills and to examine the students’ perceptions of the instructors’ and the courses’ effectiveness in fulfilling their educational agendas. Ninety-six students at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) participated in this study. The findings revealed that their educational expectations were varied and diverse and could be separated into three categories, such as “Life Skills”, “Subject Matter (Hard Skills)”, and “Soft Skills”. The students considered soft skills formation as an important part of university education. However, not all of the soft skills identified by the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, were mentioned by the respondents. The article discusses the implications of the study’s findings for Malaysia’s higher education policy.
Soft Skills Management: Comparison among Pre-University Students Based on Gender and Class Streams
TEST Engineering & Management, 2020
This survey aims to determine the effects of demographics on the soft skills of pre-university students. The demographic profile is reflected in terms of gender and class streams. In this study, soft skills include communication skills, time management, confidence, and motivation, ethics and morals. A total of 425 preuniversity students from several schools in Perak participated in this study. Questionnaires are used to collect survey data, which are analysed using the SPSS 25.0 software. Findings show pre-university students have a high level of soft skills. The inferential analysis also shows that significant differences exist in the soft skills of pre-university students in terms of gender and class streams. Female students have a higher level of soft skills than their male counterparts. Generally, art students have a higher level of soft skills than science students. A significant implication for stakeholders in the field of education, especially for parents and teachers who provide sufficient support for students' growth. Support from their immediate environment will help increase young students' chances of a successful future.
The 5TH ISM INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL CONFERENCE 2021 (ISM-V): Statistics in the Spotlight: Navigating the New Norm
Students' academic success has always been the top priority and is believed to be one of the factors that will help in increasing students' employability. Soft skills are also known to be vital before entering the working world. There have been many studies that sought to investigate factors that influence graduate employability. This study aims to determine the impact of academic factors and soft skills on students' employability after they have graduated from university from two main sources, which are the Feedback on the Attributes of UMS Trainee Who Are Currently Undergoing Industrial Training for the year 2017 and the Graduates Tracer Study 2017 administered by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. The population of the study is all the graduates in the year 2017 and a sample of 1028 students was obtained from the respondents that responded to the two matched main sources. Several tests such as the Chi Square test, Independent T-test, and Mann Whitney U test were employed for analyses to determine the relationships and differences between academic factors and soft skills towards graduate employability. The results show that there are no relationships between academic factors, qualification, and program of study. There seem to be a mean difference between academic factors, such as entry and final CGPA, PPIB results and SPM English results towards employability status of graduates. However, as for soft skills (i.e. knowledge, technical skills, ICT skills, problem solving, communication skills, teamwork, leadership, professionalism and ethics), the results show that only ICT skill is statistically significant towards graduate employability.
Integrating Soft Skills into Courses in Malaysian Public Universities
IARS' International Research Journal, 2018
Malaysian employers demand a high proficiency in soft skills. They are looking beyond academic results when interviewing new staff, hence undergraduates acquiring soft skills is an important issue from different perspectives: the employers, the education system and the students themselves. Despite this emphasis, potential employees, according to employers; lack soft skills. Considering the importance of this issue, this paper’s objective is to comprehend and highlight the perception of undergraduates of the soft skills programs in five research universities in Malaysia. The information presented in this paper is obtained from a survey conducted by distributing 600 questionnaires to undergraduates in Malaysia’s five research universities to determine their understanding of soft skills and how these skills are taught and evaluated in these universities. The initial findings show that there is a strong awareness of the importance of soft skills among undergraduates but the students...
International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation
Proper soft skills occupy a key role in realizing a prosperous career as well as during social collaborations in society. These skills are also extremely required by employers hiring new alumni. The central target of this survey is to explore students’ insights on the importance of soft skills for their education and employment. A questionnaire will be designed as the major data collection procedure and will be administered to university students at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences as well as the faculty of Sciences at Moulay Ismail University in order to elicit as much feedback as possible. Besides, the major hypothesis of this study is to find out whether soft skills are useful for social integration and career advancement and whether they contribute considerably to students’ academic performance. In addition to this, this paper will be suggesting certain measures for improving the soft skills of students, which may also help improve their employment perspectives.