Development of soft skills among students through extra-curricular activities in residential colleges

• Main Authors: Mohd. Sharif, Nurhidayah, Abdul Hamid, Siti Aishah
• Format: Article
• Published: Global Academic Excellence 2018
• Subjects: L Education (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/81964/; http://www.ijepc.com/archived.asm
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Soft skills are deemed important for tertiary students. Unfortunately, most of them focus too much on content causing them not to obtain these skills. Seeing this, the Ministry of Higher Education introduced seven soft skills for undergraduates to possess when they exit university. Among the seven skills, communication, problem solving and teamworking skills are most sought after by employers. Therefore, this study examines the development of the three skills through students’ participation in the extracurricular activities held in residential colleges. The data was collected via survey. Findings suggest that majority of the students see residential colleges’ activities as effective in equipping them with the skills. The study hopes to provide insights for the better production of graduates to meet the workplace needs.