A systematic review on soft skills development among university graduates

Joanna Bunga Noah

QR Code Link :
Type :	article
Subject :	H Social Sciences (General)
Main Author :	Joanna Bunga Noah
Additional Authors :	Azlina Abdul Aziz
Title :	A systematic review on soft skills development among university graduates

Place of Production :	Tanjong Malim
Publisher :	Fakulti Pembangunan Manusia
Year of Publication :	2020
Corporate Name :	Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris

Abstract : Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris

In order to be employed, an individual needs to not only have the required knowledge but also a skill set that would allow the individual to perform the task well. Both the required knowledge and the skill set needed can be obtained from tertiary education at universities and higher institutions. However, it seems that graduates are lacking in that skill set, namely, soft skills. This paper is a systemic review on what soft skills employers value and yet are lacking among graduates and what are the roles of universities and the government pertaining to this issue. The findings have shown that the graduates are lacking soft skills that are highly valued by the employers. To overcome this issue,, universities and the government has a part to play in order to build and develop the nation’s human capital.

References

Amiruddin, M. H., Ngadiman, N., Abdul Kadir, R., & Saidy, S. (2016). Review of soft skills of tvet trainees from the malaysian advanced technology training center (ADTEC). Journal of Technical Education and Training, 8(1), 14-24.

Azman, N., Sirat, M., & Pang, V. (2016). Managing and mobilising talent in Malaysia: issues, challenges and policy implications for Malaysian universities. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 38(3), 316-332.

Azmi, I. A. G., Hashim, R. C., & Yusoff, Y. M. (2018). The employability skills of Malaysian university students. International Journal of Modern Trends in Social Sciences, 1(3), 1-14.

Chiu, K. K., Mahat, N. I., Rashid, B., Razak, N. A., & Omar, H. (2016). Assessing Students' Knowledge and Soft Skills Competency in the Industrial Training Programme: The Employers' Perspective. Rev. Eur. Stud., 8, 123.

Cimatti, B. (2016). Definition, development, assessment of soft skills and their role for the quality of organizations and enterprises. International Journal for quality research, 10(1).

Clokie, T. L., & Fourie, E. (2016). Graduate employability and communication competence: Are undergraduates taught relevant skills?. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 79(4), 442-463.

Da Wan, C., Sirat, M., & Razak, D. A. (2018). Education in Malaysia Towards a Developed Nation.

Desai, M. S., Berger, B. D., & Higgs, R. (2016). Critical thinking skills for business school graduates as demanded by employers: a strategic perspective and recommendations. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 20(1), 10-31.

Fahimirad, M., Nair, P. K., Kotamjani, S. S., Mahdinezhad, M., & Feng, J. B. (2019). Integration and Development of Employability Skills into Malaysian Higher Education Context: Review of the Literature. International Journal of Higher Education, 8(6).

Ghazali, G., & Bennett, D. (2017). Employability for music graduates: Malaysian educational reform and the focus on generic skills. International Journal of Music Education, 35(4), 588-600.

Grapragasem, S., Krishnan, A., & Mansor, A. N. (2014). Current Trends in Malaysian Higher Education and the Effect on Education Policy and Practice: An Overview. International Journal of Higher Education, 3(1), 85-93.

Gruzdev, M. V., Kuznetsova, I. V., Tarkhanova, I. Y., & Kazakova, E. I. (2018). University Graduates' Soft Skills: The Employers' Opinion. European Journal of Contemporary Education, 7(4), 690-698.

Hurrell, S. A. (2016). Rethinking the soft skills deficit blame game: Employers, skills withdrawal and the reporting of soft skills gaps. Human Relations, 69(3), 605-628.

Husain, N. H. (2019, October 11). Inisiatif Malaysia@Kerja wujud 350,000 peluang pekerjaan. Retrieved from https://www.sinarharian.com.my/article/51606/KHAS/Belanjawan-2020/Inisiatif-Malaysia@Kerjawujud- 350000-peluang-pekerjaan

Islam, R., Ghani, A. B. A., Kusuma, B., & Theseira, B. B. (2016). Education and human capital effect on Malaysian economic growth. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 6(4), 1722-1728.

Jawabri, A. (2017). Exploration of Internship Experience and Satisfaction Leading to Better Career Prospects among Business Students in UAE. American Journal of Educational Research, 5(10), 1065-1079.

Khan, K. S., Kunz, R., Kleijnen, J., & Antes, G. (2003). Five steps to conducting a systematic review. Journal of the royal society of medicine, 96(3), 118-121.

Lim, J. (2019, October 11). Malaysia 2020 unemployment rate seen at 3.3%. Retrieved from https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/malaysia-2020-unemployment-rate-seen-33

Malaysia, K. P. T. (2006). Modul pembangunan kemahiran insaniah (soft skills) untuk institusi pengajian tinggi Malaysia. Serdang: Universiti Putra Malaysia, 1-52.

McMurray, S., Dutton, M., McQuaid, R., & Richard, A. (2016). Employer demands from business graduates. Education+ Training.

Md-Ali, R., Shaffie, F., & Yusof, F. M. (2016). Public university educators’ understanding and conception of soft skills for educators. International Review of Management and Marketing, 6(7S), 181-186.

Okolie, U. C., Nwosu, H. E., & Mlanga, S. (2019). Graduate employability: How the higher education institutions can meet the demand of the labour market. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning. Epub ahead of print, 26.

Ongonda, A., & Muindi, M. N. (2019). Web-Based Language Learning for Enhancing Students’ Soft Skills in Mount Kenya University. JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN LINGUISTICS, 10, 1555-1563.

Orji, N. S. (2013). Assessment of employability skills development opportunities for senior secondary school chemistry students. Journal of Educational Research and Reviews, 1(2), 16-26.

Pachauri, D., & Yadav, A. (2014). Importance of soft skills in teacher education programme. International Journal of Educational Research and Technology, 5(1), 22-25.

Patacsil, F. F., & Tablatin, C. L. S. (2017). Exploring the importance of soft and hard skills as perceived by IT internship students and industry: A gap analysis. Journal of Technology and Science Education, 7(3), 347-368.

Radermacher, A., & Walia, G. (2013, March). Gaps between industry expectations and the abilities of graduates. In Proceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education (pp. 525-530).

Salleh, R., Yusoff, M. A. M., Harun, H., & Memon, M. A. (2015). Gauging Industry's Perspectives on Soft Skills of Graduate Architects: Importance vs Satisfaction. Global Business & Management Research, 7(2).

Selamat, J. H., Ismail, K. H., Ahmad, A., Hussin, M. H., & Seliman, S. (2013). Framework of soft skills infusion based on learning contract concept in Malaysia higher education. Asian Social Science, 9(7), 22.

Shakir, R. (2009). Soft skills at the Malaysian institutes of higher learning. Asia Pacific Education Review, 10(3), 309-315.

Snyder, H. (2019). Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104, 333-339.

Stewart, C., Wall, A., & Marciniec, S. (2016, July). Mixed signals: Do college graduates have the soft skills that employers want?. In Competition Forum (Vol. 14, No. 2, p. 276). American Society for Competitiveness.

Succi, C., & Canovi, M. (2019). Soft skills to enhance graduate employability: comparing students and employers’ perceptions. Studies in Higher Education, 1-14.

Tang, K. N. (2019). Beyond Employability: Embedding Soft Skills in Higher Education. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET, 18(2), 1-9.

Tsaoussi, A. I. (2020). Using soft skills courses to inspire law teachers: a new methodology for a more humanistic legal education. The Law Teacher, 54(1), 1-30.

Verma, P., Nankervis, A., Priyono, S., Moh’d Saleh, N., Connell, J., & Burgess, J. (2018). Graduate workreadiness challenges in the Asia-Pacific region and the role of HRM. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:An International Journal.

Wikle, T. A., & Fagin, T. D. (2015). Hard and soft skills in preparing GIS professionals: Comparing perceptions of employers and educators. Transactions in GIS, 19(5), 641-652.

Zain, N. M., Aspah, V., Abdullah, N., & Ebrahimi, M. (2017). Challenges and evolution of higher education in Malaysia. UMRAN-International Journal of Islamic and Civilizational Studies, 4(1-1).

Zainuddin, S. Z. B., Pillai, S., Dumanig, F. P., & Phillip, A. (2019). English language and graduate employability. Education+ Training.

This material may be protected under Copyright Act which governs the making of photocopies or reproductions of copyrighted materials.
You may use the digitized material for private study, scholarship, or research.

Back to previous page