A nationwide comparative study between private and public university students’ soft skills

Abstract

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.

Measuring Student Learning Approaches and Generic Skills: A Multi-Group Analysis of Gender Differences

“…A study by Hazilah et al (2013) mentioned that among the comments made by employers on new graduates, there is a lack of communication skills in the workplace and the inability to present information clearly. To address the above problems of inadequacy in relation to specific elements of generic skills, especially among girls, Abdul Malek et al (2012) suggested that girls should be encouraged to assume leadership roles not only in classroom presentations but also in extra-curricular projects. This is in addition to engaging them in problem-based learning projects, case studies and industrial attachments.…”

“…However, in general, boys are said to have obtained higher levels of generic skills compared to girls. A large-scale national level study by Abdul Malek et al (2012) involving 10,140 students in both Malaysian public and private universities pointed out that boys outperformed girls in all generic skills except in teamwork and moral and professional ethics. The study attributed this finding to the boys' inclination to individualistic traits and aggressiveness which caused their lower scores in team-work.…”

Core Competency Education of Social Work Students: An Empirical Assessment Through Scale Development

“…Despite these limitations, this study addresses the lack of knowledge about social work student competency in China and provides practical implications to foster these competencies. One role of higher educational institutions is to produce a skilled and knowledgeable workforce that not only functions with minimal guidance, but also contributes effectively to potential employers (Abdul Karim, et al, 2012). What Chinese social work students obtain in school forms the foundation of their professional identity and workforce competency.…”

The Life Story of a Resilient Underprivileged Youth: Motivation to Learn Soft Skills

“…In Malaysia, youth face employability challenges due to the lack of required soft skills (Abdul Karim et al, 2012;Awang-Hashim, et al, 2015;Pillai, Khan, Ibrahim, & Raphael, 2011;Zaharim, Ahmad, Yusoff, Omar, & Basri, 2012). According to a press release dated 29 May 2012 on the website of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister's department (http://www.epu.gov.my/en/sl1m), tracer studies by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) found that most of the 20% of graduates who did not secure employment within six months of graduation were underprivileged.…”

“…According to the 2015 Graduate Tracer Study Report Ministry of Higher Education, 2016, 42% of unemployed recent graduates were from families earning a monthly household income of RM1,000 and below, followed by 34.8% from families with a monthly income of between RM1,001 and RM2,000, and 27.1% from families with a monthly income of between RM2,001 and RM3,000. As for the soft skills of graduates, the literature suggests that Malaysian tertiary education institutions should play a role in developing them, as these institutions provide the final level of formal education before graduates enter the workplace (Abdul Karim et al, 2012;Esa, Padil, Selamat, & Idris, 2015;Idrus, Dahan, & Abdullah, 2009& 2014Musa, Mufti, Latiff, & Amin, 2012;Nikitina & Furuoka, 2012).…”