International Review of Management and Marketing Public University Educators' Understanding and Conception of Soft Skills for Educators (original) (raw)

Soft skills development in higher education institutions

International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147- 4478)

This study aimed to explore how soft skills development is done in higher education institutions (HEIs) by considering the roles of HEIs and students. The study used a mixed research approach comprising qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative data was collected from 16 students using semi-structured interviews. In comparison, quantitative data was collected using a standard questionnaire from 342 students pursuing management and administrative undergraduate programmes in one of the universities in Tanzania. Through questionnaires, participants were asked to rank soft skills according to their relevance to their careers. The top five most relevant soft skills identified were communication, leadership, decision-making, teamwork/orientation and problem-solving. In addition, participants self-evaluated their levels of soft skills. Findings demonstrate that students perceived to have more customer orientation, communication, decision-making, problem-solving, and work-ethic skil...

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...

A Study of Soft Skills to Be Instilled Within Management Students

2019

Modern organizations in today’s challenging & fast-paced technocrat environment require a variety of skills like – technical, cognitive, interpersonal, social, hard & soft skills etc. to smoothly carryout complex business activities. In today’s digital age, where internet is utilized by the organizations as a sole / alternate channel to compete globally – has actually created a demand urgency for new skill-sets. Such skill-sets contribute towards the country’s economic development. The challenges of dealing with rapid technological changes has become a matter of grave concern for employers. They have expressed dissatisfaction by raising eyebrows over the skill-quality of fresh graduates. Latest reports have highlighted that students in academia are trained only on technical topics related to their field of career / discipline and there is a minimal or equivalent to no efforts on soft skills development. As a result, many management degree holders are facing employment challenges due...

Soft Skills Development in Higher Education

Universal Journal of Educational Research, 2020

Nowadays, as a result of economic changes, employers are eager to look for employees with applied skills rather than cognitive skills. Diplomas are not being considered as a definitive indicator of students' professional intelligence as it used to be before. Fourth Industry Revolution has dramatically changed labor market and knowledge is now acknowledged as strength of productivity and economic growth, and information technology has acquired great importance. In such a situation, whether employees start their career or change a job, they can show successful performance, if they can change and update themselves continuously, build positive interpersonal relationships in the workplace, learn and win in the unpredictable challenges of the work place. Accordingly, today the graduates of Higher Education need to master not only professional skills of their job, but also various soft skills, including the ability to communicate, coordinate, work under pressure, and solve problems. The purpose of this article is to provide literature on the connection of soft skills with employability and world labour market, the role of soft skills in career success for future professionals. The article also examines the definition and selection of the most demanding soft skills from the perspective of different literature. The role of Higher Education in forming and developing soft skills will then be discussed. The article illustrates the results of survey carried out with the aim to analyze the degree of integration of soft skills in Study Skills program that is taught for bachelor students in Uzbek State World Languages University and academic curricula.

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, Their Development and Mastering Among University Trainers

2020

The article deals with the issues of the content, assessment of the current state and the main tendencies in the development of the so-called "soft skills". At present soft skills are essential to have good job opportunities and university curriculum should be focused on developing and mastering them. The article analyses the results of the research of the soft skills development among post graduate students majoring in Professional Education of Alfred Nobel University, Dnipro. These data prove that postgraduate students realize the importance of mastering soft skills to make a successful career. Moreover, innovative teaching methods and techniques aimed at mastering soft skills are to be introduced into the educational process.

A Study Exploring Soft Skills in Higher Education

Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability

There is a need for improved skills development within the UK’s Higher Education Institutions (HEI) stemming from the disconnect between the expectations of employers of the skills graduates have and the skills graduates have gained during their degree. It is well-known now that there is a clear skills gap. The present study aims to explore the effect of graduates and students' perception of skills development in HEI in the UK. A total of 420 participants completed an online survey to explore their perception as well as their confidence of skills development by rating each skill on a Likert scale. The paper discusses the results in light of pedagogical strategies developed to teach soft skills in HE. The paper concludes with recommendations for teaching practice.