scholarly journals Soft Skill: Its Urgency and Development at Islamic Higher Education

AL-TA LIM ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-251
Author(s):  
Ahmad Sabri
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Acting Out ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Technical Capability ◽  
Blue Print ◽  
Planned Activities

The success of a person in a career work is not only determined by his or her technical capability, but also the non-technical skills which is so called ‘soft-skills’.  It is an attitude which is exemplified among the cognitive and values in the interaction with people around. Several identified falures in the community’s life indicate that many Islamic university graduates suffered from lack of ability to build  harmonious relationship with the environment.  Therefore, it is a high time for this institution to consistently instil some types of soft-skills on the parts of the students.  The current study shares the urgent needs for developing students’ soft-skills for Islamic colleges and universities. The paper ends up with several conclusions while promoting some commitments to be held by the faculty development including: the identification of soft-skills that have already existed in the students’ minds and which need to be developed, the exploration of soft skills attributes for the next 5 years based on the inspiration or opinion of the stake holders and alumnaes, the setting of action plan for academic and non-cademic agendas, acting out the planned activities, as well as the sustainable blue-print of valid soft-skills. Copyright © 2014 by Al-Ta'lim All right reserved

scholarly journals Information Technology Asymmetry and Gaps Between Higher Education Institutions and Industry

10.28945/4553 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 339-365
Author(s):  
Yasar Guneri Sahin ◽  
Ufuk Celikkan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
It Professionals ◽  
Industry Trends

Aim/Purpose: This paper investigates the gaps between industry and academia perceptions of information technology fields, such as computer science, software engineering, and computer engineering, and it identifies areas of asymmetry between curricula and industry expectations. The study mainly focuses on the skills required of IT professionals (graduated students) and on how higher education institutes equip students for industry. Background: Higher education institutes have several IT-related departments. However, it is not clear whether these departments have sufficient content to equip students with industry-related skills. Rapid advances mean that some curriculum topics are redundant before the end of a standard two- or four-year degree programs. Balancing the technical/non-technical skills and adjusting the curricula to better prepare the students for industry is a constant demand for higher education institutions. Several studies have demonstrated that a generic curriculum is inadequate to address current IT industry needs. Methodology: The study involved a comprehensive survey of IT professionals and companies using a Web-based questionnaire sent directly to individual companies, academics, and employers. 64 universities and 38 companies in 24 countries were represented by the 209 participants, of whom 99 were IT professionals, 72 academics, and 38 employers. Contribution: This paper is intended to guide academics in preparing dynamic curricula that can be easily adapted to current industry trends and technological developments, with content directly relevant to student’s careers. In addition, the results may identify the skills that students need to secure employment and the courses that will provide skills in line with current industry trends. Findings: The results indicate a lack of emphasis on personal and non-technical skills in undergraduate education compared to general computer science, software development, and coding courses. Employers’ and software experts’ responses emphasize that soft skills should not be ignored, and that, of these, analytical thinking and teamwork are the two most requested. Rather than a theoretical emphasis, courses should include hands-on projects. Rapid developments and innovations in information technologies demand that spiral and waterfall models are replaced with emerging software development models, such as Agile and Scrum development. Recommendations for Practitioners: A multidisciplinary approach should be taken to the teaching of soft skills, such as communication, ethics, leadership, and customer relations. Establishing multiple learning tracks in IT education would equip students with specialized knowledge and skills in IT. An effective communication channel should be established between students and industry. It is also important to reduce the distance between academics and students and to provide an interactive environment for technical discussions. Enterprise level computing and Framework use provide job market advantages. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers and department heads, particularly those involved in curriculum design and accreditation, could use the results of this exemplary study to identify key topics for attention. Impact on Society: Changes of various degrees are required in the current curricula in many higher education institutions to better meet student needs. Societies and technology are dynamic in nature, and information technology-related curricula in higher education institutions should be equally dynamic. Future Research: Since technology (especially information technology) transforms and advances itself so rapidly, this study should be replicated t to investigate how these changes affect the gap between revised curricula and current industry expectations.

Graduates’ employability

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 321-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyriaki Matsouka ◽  
Dimitrios M. Mihail
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Job Performance ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Personal Attributes ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Human Resource Managers ◽  
Hard Skills ◽  
Resource Managers

The purpose of this article is to investigate the views of university graduates and human resource managers (HRMs) on graduates’ employability in terms of the soft skills required by the labour market. Soft skills (personal attributes that enhance an individual’s interactions, job performance and career prospects) are necessary in the labour market in addition to hard skills (professional knowledge, tools or techniques). In this study, 178 graduates from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and 29 HRMs from Greek companies took part. The research tool was a questionnaire exploring participants’ views on the demand for soft skills as a decisive factor in employability. The findings identify differences between the views of the graduates and the HRMs. The graduates tended to overestimate themselves, while the employers argued that graduates lacked the necessary skills. The findings are discussed in relation to the changes needed in higher education institutions and the importance of appropriate interaction and collaboration between companies and universities.

scholarly journals Soft Skills Research in Higher Education: Top 100 Scopus-Indexed Publications

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 593-607
Author(s):  
Olesia V. Rumiantseva
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
University Education ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Pedagogical Issues ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Main Subject ◽  
Subject Areas

Introduction. At present, employers’ standards for university graduates are scrutinized, obviously stepping up requirements for soft skills. The issue of modernization of university curricula or development of new ones that include soft skills development in the framework of university education is relevant. The importance of the problem makes us turn to the experiences of foreign universities. This article aims to identify the main subject areas, where much attention is paid to the issues of soft skills, as well as directions of research on students’ soft skills development between 2010 and 2020 in the framework of higher education. Materials and Methods. ИThe study was conducted in two phases. During the first phase, we used a search strategy to identify the main subject areas of research on the topic of soft skills development in the period from 2010 to 2020. At the second phase, a study of one hundred most cited articles indexed in the Scopus database on the topic of soft skills in education was carried out. The selection was based on the inclusion and non-inclusion criteria. We used a method of content analysis. The selected articles were divided into several clusters demonstrating the research focus. Results. The analysis of foreign studies provided information on the subject fields that essentially focus on forming soft skills. The main subject areas, where the largest number of studies on soft skills published from 2010 to 2020 were recorded, embrace social sciences, IT, engineering, business and accounting. The areas of research on students’ soft skills in the period between 2010 and 2020 were general pedagogical issues, issues of increasing employability, and different areas of education. Discussion and Conclusion. A selection of the worldʼs best practices described in the leading articles on the formation of soft skills in education enriches the collection of methodological techniques of teachers in various specialized disciplines. The materials of the article can be useful for methodologists and teachers of professional education institutions, engaged in the formation and development of a new type of curricula, taking into account the needs of the modern labor market, and persons interested in the problems of higher education.

scholarly journals Food science and technology students self-evaluate soft and technical skills

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine M. Flynn ◽  
Peter Ho ◽  
Margarida C. Vieira ◽  
Paola Pittia ◽  
Marco Dalla Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Soft Skills ◽  
Skill Training ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Work Place ◽  
Food Science ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Signed Rank ◽  
Scientific Technical ◽  
Food And Drink

Food Scientists and Technologists (FS&T) need diverse skills in the globalized food and drink sector: Food-specific or scientific / technical skills and generic or intuitive soft skills. This study determined how satisfied FS&T students were with overall improvement, and in key technical and soft skills, based on their university work; and if satisfaction was linked to geography, degree in progress, anticipated degree, anticipated work place or anticipated job responsibility. An on-line survey was completed by 267 students in over 20 countries using a 5-point Likert scale to evaluate satisfaction. Responses were analyzed by the Friedman or Kruskal Wallis tests for more than two groups, otherwise by the Wilcoxon Signed Rank or Mann-Whitney tests. There were no differences in Overall Satisfaction with technical and soft skills training. Among soft skills, training in Working with Others and Being Responsible were more often rated “Excellent” and students were more satisfied with their training than with Solving Problems, Communication and Positive Attitude. Students anticipating a job with high responsibility were more satisfied with overall soft skill training and with 3 of the 5 specific soft skills. Among technical skills, students were more satisfied with improvement in basic sciences (Microbiology, Chemistry, Processing, Safety), and those in Northern Europe were more satisfied with overall technical training. These data show variations in perception and/or efficacy of technical and soft skill training in Food Science programmes and underline the need for separate attention to the incorporation of soft skill training into the design of FS&T courses.

scholarly journals Pengembangan Kurikulum dalam Pembelajaran Abad XXI

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-112
Author(s):  
Purwadhi Purwadhi
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Development ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
21St Century Learning ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Learning Framework ◽  
Hard Skills ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Information And Communication

ABSTRAKSI: Artikel ini – dengan menggunakan pendekatan dan metode kualitatif serta kajian pustaka – mau menganalisis dua hal pokok, yaitu: Pengembangan Kurikulum; dan Pembelajaran Abad XXI. Pengembangan kurikulum merupakan bagian yang sangat esensial dalam keseluruhan kegiatan pendidikan. Pengembangan kurikulum, baik pada tingkat makro maupun mikro, mencakup kegiatan menyeluruh yang meliputi: perencanaan, pelaksanaan, dan evaluasi; serta menyangkut pengembangan komponen penting dalam kurikulum, yaitu komponen tujuan, bahan, kegiatan, dan evaluasi. Pengembangan kurikuum secara makro menyangkut pengembangan program pendidikan secara umum dan menyeluruh dalam konteks suatu lembaga/institusi; sedangkan secara mikro menyangkut pengembangan kurikulum yang sifatnya lebih terbatas, seperti pengembangan kurikulum pada level bidang studi atau mata kuliah. Kerangka pembelajaran abad XXI adalah satu gagasan yang diadaptasi dalam pengembangan Kurikulum 2013 pada umumnya, dan pembelajaran saintifik pada khususnya. Ada sejumlah keterampilan yang perlu dikuasai oleh peserta didik pada abad XXI, yakni: “soft skill and hard skill” atau keterampilan teknis. “Soft skill” yang perlu dikembangkan adalah kreativitas dan inovasi, berpikir kritis, seperti literasi informasi, literasi media, dan literasi ICT (Teknologi Informasi dan Komunikasi). KATA KUNCI: Pengembangan Kurikulum; Pembelajaran Abad XXI; Kurikulum 2013; Keterampilan Teknis. ABSTRACT: “Curriculum Development in the 21st Century Learning”. This article – using qualitative approaches and methods as well as literature review – wants to analyze two main points, namely: Curriculum Development; and the 21st Century Learning. Curriculum development is a very essential part of all educational activities. Curriculum development, at both the macro and micro levels, has been encompassing comprehensive activities including: planning, implementation, and evaluation; and involves also the development of important components in the curriculum that are components of objectives, materials, activities, and evaluations. Macro curriculum development involves the development of a general and comprehensive education program in the context of an institution; whereas in micro terms, it involves the development of curricula that are more limited in nature such as curriculum development at the level of field of study or course. The 21st century learning framework is an idea that was adapted in 2013 Curriculum development in general, and scientific learning in particular. There are a number of skills that need to be mastered by 21st century students, namely: soft skills and hard skills or technical skills. Soft skills that need to be developed are creativity and innovation, critical thinking, such as information literacy, media literacy, and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) literacy.KEY WORD: Development Curriculum; 21st Century Learning; 2013 Curriculum; Technical Skills. About the Author: Dr. Purwadhi adalah Dosen Senior dan sekarang menjabat sebagai Rektor Universitas BSI (Bina Sarana Informatika), Jalan Terusan Sekolah No.1-2 Antapani, Cicaheum, Kiaracondong, Bandung 40282, Jawa Barat, Indonesia. Untuk kepentingan akademik, penulis bisa dihubungi dengan alamat emel: [email protected] Citation: Purwadhi. (2019). “Pengembangan Kurikulum dalam Pembelajaran Abad XXI” in MIMBAR PENDIDIKAN: Jurnal Indonesia untuk Kajian Pendidikan, Volume 4(2), September, pp.103-112. Bandung, Indonesia: UPI [Indonesia University of Education] Press, ISSN 2527-3868 (print) and 2503-457X (online). Article Timeline: Accepted (July 27, 2019); Revised (August 25, 2019); and Published (September 30, 2019).

scholarly journals Composing Professional Human Resource: The Necessity of Excellent Internship Mentoring System

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Febriani Putri ◽  
Dhika Maha Putri ◽  
Fitri Purnamasari ◽  
Miranti P Puspan- ingtyas ◽  
Dwi Narullia
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Education System ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Keywords Education ◽  
Mentoring System

University is primarily being a wide place or facility to produce capable, intelligent and professional workforce. Students are equipped with various kinds of knowledge theoretically as well as trained through the internship process. However, the findings on graduates who don’t reflect some aspects of professionalism, less competent in each of their fields or even their soft skills should be classified as urgent issues at any rate. Driven by these contrary sides, we highlighted that the less maintained students’ internship period might be a variable for the problems. We started by collecting previous studies on the dissatisfactions from employers about trainees/interns from universities, analyzed the solutions, and triangulated the solutions we proposed by exploring internship masterplan at a university in Indonesia. From all of these steps, we found that appropriate, intensive mentoring ways in the students’ internship period are the main points to create the skills that meet any employers’ demands. We believe that the results of this study will be very useful for those who need answers to the best ways to improve the quality and capabilities of higher education graduates. Keywords: education system, human resource, internship, labor, university graduates

scholarly journals Mastery of Soft Skills Through Co-curricular Uniform Body

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadillah Ismail ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Moral Ethics ◽  
Ministry Of Higher Education

Involvement students in the co-curricular of uniformed bodies is one of the significant alternatives in the effort to apply elements of soft skills among students in IPT. This study is a longitudinal survey study aimed at measuring the level of mastery of soft skills among 912 students who took a uniformed body co-curriculum course. There are seven attributes of insaniah skill (soft skill) for IPT students as outlined by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (KPTM) including communication skills, leadership, teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship and professional moral ethics skills (KPT 2006) applied . Statistical Package for Social Science Version 20 software was used to analyze the findings of this study. The results show that there is a change in the mastery of the mastery of the seven soft skills among students before and after joining the uniformed body.

scholarly journals INCULCATION OF SOFT SKILLS THROUGH CREDITED CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AMONG STUDENTS

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (44) ◽  
pp. 30-37
Author(s):  
Izwan Nizal Mohd Shaharanee ◽  
Jastini Mohd Jamil ◽  
Hussin Abdullah ◽  
Azlizan Taib
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Likert Scale ◽  
Academic Excellence ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Average Value ◽  
Ongoing Effort ◽  
Proper Training ◽  
The University

Education in Malaysia is an ongoing effort towards further developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and physically balanced and harmonious, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God. This aspiration will not be successful if the emphasis is only given to academic excellence alone. Therefore, the co-curricular activities should also be embedded towards Higher Education Institutions (HEI) students in cultivating soft skill. Various co-curricular activities have been implemented at the university to offer valuable soft skills to students. But it is still a question how these soft skills are implemented, and how are the students' acceptance and understanding of the soft skills applied. Therefore, this study has been conducted to identify the effectiveness of students' soft skills after completing co-curricular activities. A questionnaire involving a total of 669 students was analysed. The result indicated the effectiveness of soft skills embedded within the co-curricular activities is high, with an average value of 5 (Likert Scale 1-7). However, some improvements are required to increase the effectiveness of soft skills to students. Co-curricular instructors/trainers need to have proper training on integrating soft skill in their courses. Providing good guidelines is vital to help the instructors/trainers develop suitable co-curricular activities for teaching delivery and evaluation. The instructors/trainers need to explain to students what soft skills they can obtain for each activity implemented. Additionally, to ensure students acquire the soft skill, they need to reflect on what they have learned and practices during co-curricular activities.

scholarly journals THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SOFTSKILL ESSENCES ON VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-9
Author(s):  
Sukardi ◽  
Ahmad Eko Suryanto ◽  
Ratna Pancawati
Keyword(s):  
Extracurricular Activities ◽  
Real World ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Formal Learning ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Development Of Students

At present days stakeholders require the graduates who have the technical skills (Hardskill) as well possess the soft skills. The Hardskills are just not sufficient to deal with the qualification of employers in the real-world of workplace, but need to be equipped with soft skills in order to shape the integrated capabilities as needed by users. To form the student’s soft skills can be implemented through the coaching program in formal learning activities and extracurricular activities. The softskill development of students is necessary to be achieved with concrete efforts, namely: 1) the existence of policies that legalize the implementation of soft skill based on the extracurricular activities in each education unit; 2) systematic and planned soft skills development program; and 3) the softskill dissemination is carried out synergistically involving all parties.

scholarly journals Soft Skills Integration into Business Processes Based on the Requirements of Employers—Approach for Sustainable Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13807
Author(s):  
Erika Sujová ◽  
Helena Čierna ◽  
Ľubica Simanová ◽  
Pavol Gejdoš ◽  
Jaroslava Štefková
Keyword(s):  
Business Processes ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
University Education ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Nonparametric Testing ◽  
Recent Graduates ◽  
Skill Mastery ◽  
The Difference

This paper deals with the issue of increasing the quality and sustainability of education at universities regarding the requirements of employers. Employers’ expectations of university graduates in terms of soft skills are analysed and outlined. The employers participating in this study answered a questionnaire survey focused on understanding university graduates’ soft skills. The collected results were subjected to the method of mathematical–statistical analysis by nonparametric testing of significance of the mean value difference. The significance of the difference for individual skills was confirmed, demonstrating that the surveyed enterprises required and anticipated a level of soft skills development on the part of recent graduates that was insufficient. This finding implies the necessity of improving university education to match the expected and real state of soft skill mastery.

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