ABSTRAK. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memperoleh gambaran mengenai soft skills pada mahasiswa dan faktor-faktor yang berperan dalam penguasaan keterampilan tersebut. Penelitian diikuti oleh mahasiswa tingkat II di Politeknik Manufaktur Negeri Bandung (Polman Bandung) yang terdiri dari 22 mahasiswi dan 97 mahasiswa. Dengan mengunakan metode penelitian deskriptif dan alat ukur soft skills yaitu soft competency questionnaire-self assessment (SCQ-SA) mengukur enam aspek soft skills yaitu motivation, flexibility, willingness to learn, integrity, relationship building dan teamwork & cooperation. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa gambaran umum soft skills partisipan penelitian tergolong cukup (median = 3). Diantara keenam aspek tersebut, aspek flexibility yaitu keterampilan untuk beradaptasi merupakan aspek yang lebih dikuasai oleh partisipan dibandingkan aspek-aspek yang lain. Penelitian ini juga menggali permasalahan yang sering dihadapi mahasiswa yaitu masalah motivasi, relasi dengan teman, dan kemauan untuk selalu ingin belajar. Pengujian terhadap perbedaan soft skills di antara perempuan dan laki-laki menunjukkan bahwa jenis kelamin tidak memiliki peran yang signifikan terhadap penguasaan soft skills pada mahasiswa. (median = 3). Among the six aspects of soft skills, the aspect of flexibility is the aspect which is more skilled by the participant. The study also explored the problems often faced by students. It was found that motivation, relationship problems with friends and willingness to learn are often faced by students. Some examination of the differences between soft skills of female and male showed that gender has no a significant role to the mastery of soft skills in student. Kata kunci: gambaran, soft skills, mahasiswa DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON STUDENTS' SOFT SKILLS AT POLMAN BANDUNG ABSTRACT. This study is aimed to describe students' soft skills and the factors that play roles in the mastery of these skills. The study followed by students from grades II Politeknik Manufaktur Negeri

Interpersonal communication patterns or it is commonly called as interpersonal communication is one of the soft skills that students should improve. The low ability of students’ interpersonal communication in a sense may cause problems since students must adapt to the academic environment which will eventually affect their academic achievement. This research is aimed at obtaining a description of the relationship between students’ interpersonal communication patterns with their academic achievement. The deductive method was applied by collecting data through a set of questionnaires which has been tested for its validity and reliability. The respondents of this research were 88 students of Politeknik Manufaktur Bandung. The data were tested using SPPS version 20. in which the correlation technique employed was product moment. The results obtained from testing the significant value table between the interpersonal communication skills and academic achievement variables show that there is a significant relationship between these two variables. This finding also indicates that the higher the increase of the students’ interpersonal communication skills, the higher their academic achievement will be. Further research can be developed by including other variables such as among others motivation, leadership, integrity, teamwork, lifelong learning, flexibility, and demography factors as the independent or mediator variable to get a more comprehensive result.  Keywords: communication skill; interpersonal communication; students’ academic achievement ABSTRAKPola komunikasi antar pribadi atau sering disebut komunikasi interpersonal merupakan salah satu soft skills yang perlu dikembangkan pada mahasiswa. Rendahnya keterampilan komunikasi  interpersonal pada mahasiswa sedikit banyak akan menyebabkan mahasiswa mengalami kesulitan dalan beradaptasi dengan lingkungan perkuliahan yang pada akhirnya akan berpengaruh pada prestasinya.  Penelitian ini memiliki tujuan untuk mendapatkan deskripsi tentang hubungan antara pola keterampilan komunikasi interpersonal antar mahasiswa dengan prestasi akademiknya. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode deduktif dengan pengumpulan data melalui kuesioner yang telah disusun dan dinyatakan valid dan reliabel untuk digunakan. Responden penelitian ini sebanyak 88 orang mahasiswa Politeknik Manufaktur Bandung. Pengujian data menggunakan SPSS versi 20 dimana teknik korelasi yang digunakan adalah product moment. Hasil pengujian berdasarkan tabel nilai signifikansi antara variabel keterampilan komunikasi interpersonal dengan variabel prestasi akademik menunjukkan terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara kedua variabel penelitian. Temuan penelitian ini juga mengindikasikan bahwa semakin meningkat keterampilan komunikasi interpersonal akan semakin meningkat pula prestasi akadenik mahasiswa. Penelitian selanjutnya dapat dikembangkan dengan memasukkan variabel lain dalam penelitian seperti motivasi, kepemimpinan, integritas, kerjasama tim, keinginan untuk terus belajar, fleksibilitas dan faktor demografi sebagai variabel bebas ataupun variabel mediator, sehingga didapatkan hasil yang lebih komprehensif.Kata kunci :  keterampilan komunikasi, komunikasi interpersonal; prestasi akademik mahasiswa

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Objective: Interpersonal communication is an essential element of communication that creates meaningful social relationships in the academic environment. Students who have good interpersonal communication skills will be capable of interacting with others. However, it was reported that some students still have a low capacity for interpersonal communication caused by various factors, and one of them is gender. This research attempts to investigate the students’ interpersonal communication concerning gender and to find out whether there is a difference between male and female students in terms of interpersonal communication. Methodology: This study was conducted through a descriptive method. The subject of this study includes 88 students consisting of 66 male and 22 female students at one state polytechnic in Bandung, Indonesia. The data were collected in terms of interpersonal communication and gender. Results: The results show that male students had a slightly higher score of interpersonal communication than females. Regarding the significant elements of effective interpersonal communication, it was found that there are differences in the dominant component of interpersonal communication between male and female students. Female students dominated the area of equality, indicating that they have a more dominant ability to position themselves as equivalent to their communication partners to create comfortable communication. Male students dominated the area of openness, empathy, supportiveness, and a positive attitude showing that they have a more dominant ability to show a willingness to communicate honestly and full of understanding, so they were able to give support and positive thought. Implication: The study recommends the use of appropriate communication activities that can encourage the students to be open, to be supportive, and to be positive. This condition will enable teachers to choose and apply the appropriate methods in the teaching and learning process to support the development of students’ interpersonal communication.

___________________________________________________________________It is believed that self-compassion is an essential component for any human being to survive in their environment. Self-compassion is the ability to entertain and care for oneself in suffering, failure, and imperfection rather than taking part in self-criticism. This research attempts to find out the level of self-compassion in vocational higher education students and to explore the differences in terms of self-compassion between male and female students. Employing Neff's Self-Compassion Scale (short form) measurement tool, this study was conducted through a descriptive survey technique. The results show that female students had a slightly higher level of self-compassion than males. Regarding the significant elements of self-compassion, which are selfkindness, common humanity, and mindfulness, it was found that there are differences in the dominant component of self-compassion between male and female students. This finding shows that female students were dominated by self-kindness rather than mindfulness and common humanity. It can be said that female students have a more dominant ability to understand and accept themselves as well as to give tenderness. It was also found that male students were dominated by common humanity rather than mindfulness and selfkindness. Male students have a more dominant ability to perceive difficulties and problems which are part of human life, and these are things that everyone experiences and they always realize that they do not experience it by themselves. Based on the results of the study, it is expected that appropriate mechanisms should be formulated to improve the students' self-compassion at all levels. It could be done by providing the educational environment that can encourage the students to accept who they are, to express gratitude, and to be mindful.