Education

  Star Education Fair

Sunday July 16, 2006

It’s time for soft skills

I REFER to Datuk Dr Sharom Ahmat’s letter pertaining to “soft skills” (StarEducation, July 2). I fully agree with him that soft skills among students should be nurtured through secondary schooling (indeed, right from primary schooling).

Our content and examination-oriented education system does not focus adequately on developing students’ social skills.

Many universities worldwide are currently focusing on producing graduates who possess knowledge about their disciplines of study and adequate soft skills.

Undoubtedly, the acquisition of soft skills is crucial for Malaysian graduates to enhance their employment marketability.

Soft skills complement hard skills, which are the technical requirements of a job.

Today, even positions in task-oriented fields such as accounting and information systems require soft skills, in addition to technical skills.

Indeed, a study conducted by the Stanford Research Institute and Carnegie Mellon Foundation involving Fortune 500 chief executive officers found that 75% of long-term job success depended on people skills, and only 25% on technical knowledge.

In short, technical skills often have little value if one has poor soft skills.

Soft skills are generally defined as intra-personal and interpersonal skills and traits that are required to thrive in the workplace.

They are typically categorised into three major categories – personal attributes (for example, strong work ethics, high self-esteem, integrity, being resilient, managing time successfully, personal presentation); interpersonal skills (for instance, communication, leadership, emotional intelligence, teamwork, managing conflict); and problem solving and decision-making skills (critical and creative thinking).

The most common approaches to developing soft skills among graduates are:

·The curriculum-integrated approach which enables students to develop soft skills within the context of their discipline;

·The stand-alone approach wherein soft skills development is taught in a unit separate from core discipline studies; and

·Work placements or work-based projects which require students to spend a portion of their time in the workplace.

Universities worldwide have adopted one or more of these approaches. An integrated approach, involving two or all of the above-mentioned approaches, makes the most sense.

Undergraduates should first be provided with a theoretical framework pertaining to soft skills.

Such a framework will guide the undergraduates to effectively practise the soft skills that have been embedded across the curriculum rather than learn them haphazardly through the trial-and-error method.

More importantly, a systematic and step-by-step experiential approach is needed to assist individuals to develop positive personal attributes and to take charge of their lives.

Psychologists generally agree that self-image is the key to human personality and behaviour. In this regard, a specific learning event (experiential in nature) is required to help undergraduates develop a positive self-image.

A good local example is the programme introduced by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).

In 2001, UiTM came up with a 14-week Personal Development Course with three credit hours for the Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) undergraduates, besides embedding soft skills across the curriculum and having work placements.

The course content encompassed self-esteem, taking charge of life, communication skills, teamwork, time management, emotional intelligence, human relations, leadership, and stress management.

The rationale for introducing the course is based on the age-old maxim – just as theory without practice is of limited value, so too is practice without theory.

UiTM’s Personal Development Course has successfully assisted graduates to optimise their potential and acquire soft skills.

Based on qualitative feedback, 98% of the 962 undergraduates who had gone through the Personal Development Course since 2001 found it highly beneficial, for both personal growth and enhancing employability.

In my opinion, universities should first determine the desired attributes of their graduates. What soft skills should graduates have besides knowledge about their disciplines? It may be pertinent for universities to consider developing a stand-alone “Enhancing Soft Skills” module for undergraduates which should be taught preferably during the first semester.

Finally, soft skills should be embedded into the curriculum and teaching and assessment processes.

RANJIT SINGH MALHI

Kuala Lumpur

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