THE PERCEPTION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SOFT SKILLS

AMONG STUDENTS

Dr.Kuldip Singh,

Faculty of Administrative science and Policy Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sarawak

Nur Aida Hj Kipli

Faculty of Administrative science and Policy Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sarawak

Mohamad Hasimi Abdullah

Penolong Pendaftar (Hal Ehwal Akademik)

Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sarawak

1. INTRODUCTION

Today's competitive job market means that minimum acceptable skills are being replaced with

higher standards. And among the higher standards is what many call as "soft skills." A soft skill

refers to the cluster of personality traits, social graces, facility with language, personal habits,

friendliness, and optimism that mark each of us to varying degrees. Persons who rank high in this

cluster, with good soft skills, are generally the people that most employers want to hire. Soft

skills complement hard skills, which are the technical requirements of a job. The ideal, of course,

is someone strong in both job and personal skills, but as one employer put it in a recent report,

"Hard Work and Soft Skills:"

Don't worry so much about the technical skills. We need you to teach them how to show up on

time, how to work in teams, and how to take supervision."

It's always hard to comment on deficiencies in soft skills because they are close to the center of

one's ego. When recruiters turn down candidates, they often are unwilling to cite deficiencies in

soft skills and may point to something that is off the mark. A student may say, “I was turned

down by XXX Company which says it doesn't hire liberal arts graduates," when I know it isn't

true. To the recruiter it may have been kinder than saying, "We don't want you because you are

too sloppy, too nonverbal, or have some other negative trait." But it didn't do much for the

student's appreciation of his or her educational background. Thus, some of the weaknesses

identified of the graduates are that, they are not astounding and lack the so call ‘soft skills’

demanded by society and the competitive job market. Hence, the institutions of higher learning

are urged to produce quality graduates who are equally intelligent, possess excellent attitudes and

high ethical and moral values.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 What are soft skills

Soft or social skills are those personal values and interpersonal skills that determine a person’s

ability to fit into a particular structure, such as a project team or a company. The skills include

personality traits like emotional maturity, eagerness to learn and willingness to share and having

new thoughts.As regarding to the future work, soft skills are fast becoming the deal breaker in

many of today’s hing decisions. Executives arew seldom measured according to how well they can

go over the technical specifictaions of their products and services. However, it is more concentrate

on their ability to motivate an organization, to assess the performance of their ability to motivate

an organization, to assess the performance of their staff, to make clear and well-balanced decisions

and their ability to develop and communicate ideas and visions.

In the Malaysian context, ‘soft skills’ can be said to incorporate all aspects of generic skills that

include the cognitive elements associated with non-academic skills (Ministry of Higher Education,

Malaysia, 2006). Though there are no specific soft skills, however majority of these skills are

associated with positive values, leadership skills, team work force, communicative skills and life-

long learning. Soft skills are identified to be the most critical skills in the current global job market

especially in a fast moved era of technology (Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, 2006). The

reorientation of education which is one trust of education for sustainability also relates the

importance of these so-called ‘soft skills. As such, graduates from higher institutions of learning

who are required to meet the needs of the job market by attaining the above mentioned soft skills

will indirectly be exposed to the skills envision in ESD.

Vast research and expert opinions were sought in the effort to determine the specific soft skills to

be implemented and used in higher institutions of learning in Malaysia. Based on the research

findings obtained, seven soft skills have been identified and chosen to be implemented to all

institutions of higher learning here. They are:

i. Communicative skills.

ii. Thinking skills and Problem solving skills.

iii. Team work force

iv. Life-long learning and Information Management

v. Entrepreneur skill

vi. Ethics, moral and professionalism

vii. Leadership skills

(Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, 2006).

Each of the above soft skills comprised of several sub-skills. These sub-skills are divided into two

categories of implementation. The first category delineates the soft skills that every individual

must have and the second category represents soft skills that are good to have. Despite the

emphasis being put on the soft skills that must be present (must have), it is also encouraged to

inculcate the soft skills that are good to have. All elements of soft skills that have been suggested

by the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia must be acquired by each individual student and

evaluated effectively and comprehensively. Table 2 shows the seven soft skills and the two

categories of sub-skills respectively.

The ‘must have’ soft skills must be acquired by each and every individual in the institutions of

higher learning without which, the student is regarded as incompetent in the above skill. The

‘good to have’ soft skills can be regarded as the additional generic skills and a bonus to the

student. These skills are acquired by the students together with the ‘must have’ soft skills. Table

12 gives a detail description of the different categories of implementation for each of the sub-

skills for the respective seven soft skills.

Table 1: The ‘Must Have’ and ‘Good To Have’ Elements of Soft Skills

No.

Soft Skills

Must Have Elements (Sub-

Skills)

Good To Have Elements

(Sub-Skills)

1.

Communicative

Skills

Ability to deliver idea clearly,

effectively and with confidence

either orally or in writing

Ability to practice active listening

skill and respond.

Ability to present clearly and

confidently to the audience.

Ability to use technology

during presentation.

Ability to discuss and arrive at

a consensus.

Ability to communicate with

individual from a different

cultural background.

Ability to expand one’s own

communicative skill.

Ability to use non-oral skills.

2.

Critical Thinking

and Problem Solving

Skills

Ability to identify and analyze

problems in difficult situation and

make justifiable evaluation.

Ability to expand and improve

thinking skills such as

explanation, analysis and

evaluate discussion.

Ability to find ideas and look for

alternative solutions.

Ability to think beyond.

Ability to make conclusion

based on valid proof.

Ability to withstand and give

full responsibility.

Ability to understand and

accommodate oneself to the

varied working environment.

3.

Team Work

Ability to build a good rapport,

interact and work effectively with

others.

Ability to understand and play

the role of a leader and follower

alternatively.

Ability to recognize and respect

other’s attitude, behaviour and

beliefs.

Ability to give contribution to

the planning and coordinate

group work.

Responsible towards group

decision.

4.

Life-Long Learning

& Information

Management Skill

Ability to find and manage

relevant information from various

sources.

Ability to develop an inquiry

mind and seek knowledge.

Ability to receive new ideas

performs autonomy learning.

5.

Entrepreneurship

skill

Ability to identify job

opportunities.

Ability to propose business

opportunity.

Ability to build, explore and

seek business opportunities and

job.

Ability to be self-employed.

6.

Ethics, Moral &

Professional

Ability to understand the

economy crisis, environment and

social cultural aspects

professionally.

Ability to analyze make problem

solving decisions related to

ethics.

Ability to practice ethical

attitudes besides having the

responsibility towards society.

7.

Leadership skill

Knowledge of the basic theories

of leadership.

Ability to lead a project.

Ability to understand and take

turns as a leader and follower

alternatively.

Ability to supervise members

of a group.

2.1.1 Communicative Skills

The communicative skills involve effective communication in both the Bahasa Melayu (national

language of Malaysia) and English language in different contexts and with different people. There

are eight sub-skills under communicative skills of which three are the must have skills and five

are the good to have skills. Communicative skills are an integral part of any education system

either in higher education or lower education. As mentioned earlier, in many countries, basic

education or primary education is mandatory and it focuses on reading, writing and ciphering.

People learn to read books, write letters, figure accounts and develop skills necessary to fulfill

their expected roles in their households and community. At this very level, emphasis has been

given to develop the communicative skills of individual so that by the time they leave college,

they are able to be participate in public and community activities and decision making. What is

found to be missing in the nation’s present human capital is the lack of communicative skills. The

absence of good communicative skills some how or rather has an influence on the poor

presentation of their views and decisions made to gain others’ confidence and respect.

Communicative skills have also been greatly emphasized in the reorientation of basic education

for ESD which is: the ability to communicate effectively (both orally and in writing). The

communicative skill seemed to be one important component that lacks in the future human capital

of Malaysia. This is more so with the implementation of the English language in some school

subjects such as science and mathematics. The incompetence of the future graduates to master

both languages will be a set-back to a lot of potential development and advancement of the

country. Thus, this is a good time to reorientate the curriculum of higher institutions to embed

communicative skills.

2.1.2 Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills

This skill includes the ability to think critically, creatively, innovatively and analytically. It also

involves the ability to apply knowledge and understanding to new and different problems as well.

For ESD to be successful, it must give people practical skills that will enable them to continue

learning after they have leave school, to have a sustainable livelihood and to live sustainable

lives. The critical thinking skills, skills to organize and interpret data and information, skills to

formulate questions and the ability to analyze issues that confront communities are greatly

addressed in the reorientation of basic education in ESD. The following are some examples of

skills that comply with ESD and some of these skills are similar to the ‘soft skills’ being

emphasized in the curriculum of higher education in Malaysia.

(i) The ability to think about systems (both natural and social sciences).

(ii) The ability to think in time-to forecast, to think ahead, and to plan.

(iii) The ability to think critically about value issues.

(iv) The ability to separate number, quantity, quality and values.

All the above skills are important and students will require them as adults.

2.1.3 The Skill of Team Work

It is the ability to work with people from different social cultural background is to achieve a

common goal. Students are encouraged to play their role in the group and to respect opinions and

attitudes of others in the group. They are also expected to contribute to the group’s plan and

coordinate the group’s effort besides being responsible to the group’s decision. This skill is also

part of ESD as stated in the reorientation of basic education: the ability to work cooperatively

with other people. If the future human capital can attained these skills, we can be rest assure that

the future generation will collaborate ideas and cooperate a taskforce towards the well-being of

the nation.

2.1.4 Life-Long Learning and Management of Information

This skill involves an effort to learn to be independent or self-regulated learning in acquiring

skills and new knowledge. The ability to find and manage relevant information from various

sources is also a criterion of this soft skill. Besides this, students are also expected to develop an

inquiry mind and crave for knowledge. As mentioned earlier, these characteristics are equally

important in ESD in order for an individual to be media literate and consumer knowledgeable.

Life-long learning will enable individuals to accumulate as much knowledge and skills over the

years. The ability to manage information well will allow an individual to distinguish between

good and bad, to adopt the best practices and to make sound decisions.

2.1.5 Entrepreneurship skill

The ability to seek business opportunity and develop risk awareness. It also involve being

creative and innovative in activities related to business and tasks. To design and plan business

propositions and the ability to be self employed. This skill can in some ways contribute to ESD if

the training and practice is done for a good a purpose.

2.1.6 Ethics, Moral and Professional

It refers to the ability to practice a high moral standard in professional tasks and social

interaction. This skill also includes the ability to analyze ethical problems and make problem

solving decisions. Having a sense of responsibility towards society is another criteria of this soft

skills. A majority of the skills and values of ESD also emphasized these soft skills.

2.1.7 Leadership skill

It is the ability to lead in various activities and tasks. This is an important criterion in ESD for

planning and implementing ideas in a group. This skill is also important to lead in discussion and

make decision.

2.2 The teachability of Soft skills

Though the skills are not being taught directly in any courses, lecturers are still liable to provide a

learning environment which can enhance the undergraduate’s soft skills. The higher learning

institutiions should standardize and format of their syllabus and makes it suitable to be counted for

the future. Ideally, lecturers must be able to anticipate the requirements needed in job market. For

instance through :

a) development of soft skills through support programs

b) development of soft skills through Campus Life Activities

2.2.1 Development of soft skills through support programs

This involves programs and activities that are created, developed and used to support soft skills

either directly or indirectly. In general, the program and activity can be divided into two: (i)

academic support program and (ii) non-academic support program.The academic support

program is to help students acquire the soft skills that are associated with academic matters. Some

of these programs include ‘Learning Skills’ and ‘English Language Support Program (ELSP).

As for the non-academic support program, it assists students to acquire the soft skills that are not

related to academic matters but more of personality and professional development of the students.

Most of the programs and activities are in the form of co-curriculum and extra co-curriculum.

2.2.2 Development of soft skills through Campus Life Activities

Most of the university students spend half of their students’ life living in residences in the

university campus. As such, institutions of higher learning should use this golden opportunity to

develop their soft skills. This can be done through carefully crafted programs and carrying them

out in the conducive campus grounds.

Nevertheless, there is a Model for implementing soft skills in higher education. According to the

Ministry of Higher Education, A holistic approach is used to plan and implement the soft skills

among students of higher education. This approach is based on the combination of several

programs and main activities; formal teaching and learning activities (include all curricular and

co-curricular elements); support programs (academic and non-academic focused) and the

students’ campus life (students’ residences and the campus surroundings). Figure 1 shows the

framework for implementing soft skills among students of higher institutions in Malaysia. In

general, the development of soft skills among the students via the formal teaching and learning

activities takes two models: (i) stand alone and (ii) embedded.

2.3 Benefits of soft skills

The main benefit of soft skills is empowerment. Soft skills are useful for creating and taking

advantage of opportunities – jobs, career and business. No matter how great your technical skills

are, when job hunting, your marketing skills should be first-class. Otherwise others who may not

be as capable as you, but who have better marketing skills might beat you to the jobs or work you

want. But there are also challenges and competition. In such a competitive environment,

perception often reigns supreme.

Interestingly, the acquisition of soft skills also empowers you by allowing you to build flexibility

into your future career plans. How? Most soft skills are regarded as transferable skills, e.g.

communication, project management, business and team work, which are needed in nearly all

aspects of life, not just for your career alone. You need to grow not just as a techie but also as a

person.

As new graduated students, you have confidence in your technical abilities. But is your technical

masterpiece built to last? Technical skills are important, but such abilities are no guarantee of

career fulfillment. There is no way you can sustain a career with just technical skills. You get the

job done but what is your impact and influence? What really is your aim in acquiring that

certification? Is certification an end in itself? No it’s for opportunity, for career growth. It’s good

to acquire skills, but please be sensible. Unfortunately, many of us seem to emphasize having

more skills than sense.

Key skills that make a difference include communication, leadership, teamwork, problem solving,

project management and business. Having the required interpersonal skills provides a must-have

foundation for career growth. They give you the ability to take advantage of challenges and

opportunities that will come your way. When you empower yourself, you stay ahead of the

crowd.

Stop negative conduct whether deliberate, due to ignorance, or because of an unsupportive

environment. No matter your environment, you can’t afford to be ignorant, insensitive or

unprofessional simply because you feel you are a technical guru. For instance, IT “Hot stuff”

swallows your pride, dig deep and identify your soft skills gap. Then make a conscious effort to

close the gap. Nobody is perfect. But that’s no excuse to empower your weaknesses. Developing

your technical skills while actively cultivating poor soft skills is akin to moving one step forward,

two steps backwards. It burns and wastes what you hold dear –time, money and resources. Poor

soft skills devalue.

2.4 Importance of soft skills

Broadly speaking, we can view that there are two kinds of skills; one set used to perform basic

duties at work and another set is used to approach work. The former can be categorized as technical

skills and latter as soft skills. To elaborate more on soft skills, these are the ones’s that define one’s

approach towards work, life, problems, etc.

Soft skills are the people skills. The best part about mastering them is that the application of these

skills is not limited to one’s profession, but their scope reaches of lifes. Technical skills may teach

one how to meet the expectations of the job, but soft skills teach one to succeed and to eceed

expectations. It is surprising that we spend our time educating almost exlusively in technical skills.

The researcher believes that both technical and soft skills compliment each other and the balance

between these two makes a complete professional. The development of soft skills is essential for

students entering the world of work. It is important role of the business educator to facilitate this

development. Although most business educators recognize the importance of fulling this role, many

business educators heve been forced to lower the priority of teaching soft skills in the attempt to

create more technologically savvy graduates.

Therefore, it is important to identify effective practices infacilitating soft skills development in

order to make reserach-based recommendations to program developers, supervisors and teachers

about the elements to include in (or delete for) their instructional designs.

The Star Online (Saturday, September 23, 2006) reported that Ministry upgrades soft skils modules.

The Higher Education Ministry has upgraded its soft skills module for public institutions of higher

learning to make it easier for gradutes to enter the job market . The revised modules provides

improvemnet to skills like interpersonal communication, mastering languages, negotiations and

public speaking. Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said that the soft skills would great help to

produce graduates who are critical thinkers with high self-esteem and strong personality. He said

that more presentations would be allowed during the teaching of courses and students would be

encouraged to speak out and engage their lecturers in intellect discourses.

Refer to Ranjit Singh Malhi (UiTM News and Event), he agreed that soft skills among students

should be nurtured through secondary schooling (indeed, right from primary school). The content

and examination-oriented education system does not focus adequately on developing students’

social skills.

Many universities worldwide are currrently focusing on producing graduates who possess

knowledge about their disciplines of study and adequate soft skills. Soft skills complement hard

skills, which are the technical requirements of a job. Indeed, a study conducted by the Standford

Research Institute and Carnegie Mellon Foundation involving Fortune 500 chief executive officers

found that 75% of long term job sucess depended on people skils, and only 25% on technical

knowledge. This shows that soft skills are generally defined as intra-personal and interpersonal and

interpersonal skills and traits that are required to thrive in the workplace.

The most common approach to develop soft skill among garduates is the curriculum-integrated

approach which enables students to develop soft skills within the context of their discipline.

Besides, the stand-alone approach wherein soft skill development is taught in a unit separate form

core discipline studies and work placement or work-based projects which reqires students to spend a

portion of their time in the workplace.

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

important is the systematic and step by step experiential approach is needed to asssist individulas to

develop positive ersonal attributes and to take charge of their lives.

A good example is the programme introduced by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). In 2001,

Universiti Teknologi MARA UiTM came out with a 14-weeks Personal Development Course

(Program Pembangunan dan Kepimpinan Pelajar- PPKP) with three credit hours for the Bachelor of

Business Administration (Hons) undergraduates, besides embeeding soft skills across teh

curriculum and having work performances. 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 a theory without practice is of limited value, so too is practice without

theory.

2.5 Research on soft skills

According to study develops by Kajian Pengangguran that was carried out on 19 June 2002

[Appointment of the National Institute of Higher Education Research (NAHERI) by the Department of

Education]. The report of the study was completed 14 February 2003.

• Laporan Pengangguran forwarded views towards producing Generalist Plus graduates with

outstanding characteristics pertaining to their field of studies suitable for employment and views on

producing graduates who have personality, knowledgeable, technologically competent and

skilled.

• Laporan Pengangguran also highlighted ideas on reducing the emphasis on subject requirements

and increasing the emphasis on long-term requirements of students. In other words, a balanced

curriculum has to be devised.

• The above draft report also listed the views of employers, students, graduates, lecturers, and

university’s administrative units on the university’s curriculum. Therefore, Kajian Pengangguran is

used as the basis for the present study focusing on university’s curriculum and Universiti Sains

Malaysia (USM) is used as a case study.

And, through the information obtained from employers, graduates, undergraduates, lecturers and USM

administrative units with regard to university’s curriculum and graduates’ skills in preparing them for the

workplace. There are an overall analysis due to this circumstances. From the perception of :

a) Employer

The findings of this Kajian Kurikulum are similar to that found in Kajian Pengangguran, in that they highlight

the employment needs of employers with respect to personal qualities, skills and graduates’ abilities. For

example, communicative skills in English are given emphasis by employers in both reports. In addition to

English language skills, similar emphases are also given to graduates’ personality and ICT skills. Graduates’

practical experiences are also studied by both researches. It is interesting to note that graduates provide similar

opinions to that given by employers regarding skills considered important, such as communicative skills and

personal qualities that are essential for entry into the employment world.

A number of qualities and graduate skills required by employers include the ability to adapt to the

needs of industry and company, the ability to communicate in English, being skilled in ICT, have

leadership and interpersonal skills (ability to work in groups and socialise).

Two main factors highlighted are the university’s curriculum and graduates’ generic skills.

i) University’s Curriculum

• In general, employers interviewed state that they do not require potential

employees to have specific specialisations. Most employers will provide

appropriate basic training pertaining to tasks and job requirements.

• However with respect to small and medium industry, employers require graduates

to have specific specialisations as they are unable to expend the time and cost of

training of new employees.

• Universities play a role in providing basic knowledge required in certain jobs such

as Labour Law for the retailing sector, application of basic office softwares, i.e. word

processing, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.

ii) Graduates’ Generic Skills

The generic skills required by employers are as listed below:

• Language Skills

All the employers interviewed in the study underlined that they seek employees with

speaking and writing skills in English. These abilities are vital characteristics of

employees, as they have to communicate with clients who are mostly from abroad.

Malay language skills are not seen as being equally important. However, the

employer from retailing state that bahasa Malaysia is very important as employees

have to deal with local clients whereas English is used for administration.

Having other language skills, i.e. other than bahasa Malaysia and English, for

example Mandarin, would be considered as advantageous to graduates.

• General and Current knowledge

Employers find that they require employees who could socialise and entertain the

various demands of clients.

• Giving Presentation

Employers require that every employee could interact and be able to impart

information to clients.

• Basic Knowledge

Employers imply that the basic knowledge required from potential employees is

knowledge on ICT.

• Work Exposure

Graduates who have had wide work experience find themselves in an advantageous

position. Work experiences are usually obtained whilst studying. Therefore, employers

suggest that university graduates be given industrial trainings in at least two different

industries.

iii) Basic Skills Required by Employers

Employers focus on language skills, communication skills and personality in

recruitment exercises. The characteristics of university graduates with high

marketability are:

• General and Current Knowledge

Having language skills is always an advantage to the employee who has to deal with

foreign clients. Poor language skills may be due to lack of interest in reading beyond

the needs of passing university examinations.

• Attitudes

Positive attitudes towards work, being independent, having initiatives, friendliness, the

ability to work in groups, cooperativeness amongst work colleagues, responsible,

trustworthy and a willingness to learn on the job are personal characteristics deemed

important and frequently mentioned by employers.

• Patience

Employers face difficulties in recruiting staff who are patient. Many employees are

impatient with respect to their career plans and in enhancing their work experience.

Employees are generally not interested to work overtime, desirous of huge pay

increases within a short time, uninterested in jobs without long vacations and are into

job hopping.

• Asking Questions

Most employers found that employees who are unwilling to ask questions and seek

clarifications whenever they face difficulties at implementing work tasks. This

characteristic may be related to poor language skills and personality.

• Ability to Give Presentations

Poor language skills make be the reason why employees shy away from verbal

interactions.

• Failed Initial Stage of Job Interviews

University teaching and learning styles do not provide opportunities for

undergraduates to be exposed to the employment environment and may be the reason

why graduates do not excel in job interviews. Employers suggest that universities give

input pertaining to important information concerning job interviews.

• Failed to Attend Job Interviews

The lack of ability to converse in a variety of languages and the lack of information and

exposure to the work environment are the main reasons job applicants do not turn up

for job interviews.

• Obey Instructions

Employers state that employed graduates must be able to obey instructions and this

must be balanced against leadership qualities and the ability to be independent. These

characteristics are very much needed in deterring potentials work related problems

from developing. Arrogance amongst graduates is significant particularly when they

deal with staff with lower qualifications. Foreign trained graduates are more down-to-

earth and are willing to accept tasks given to them and they had been exposed to better

work practice.

3. Methodology

This study uses the survey method. In this study, the researcher chose to use the self-reported

measure as the data collection method. A questionnaire based on literature review of soft skills was

developed to suit the context of the study, was used. A thorough content analysis and pilot test were

performed to ensure the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. The population of this study will

be designated as the full-time students of Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak, Samarahan Campus

comprising of 4 programmes for semester 6 only. A sample of 150 students was chosen using

random sampling. As this study will be utilising statistical inference, random sampling is crucial.

Before the researcher randomly selected the sample, a list of students enrolled at Universiti Teknologi

MARA Sarawak was obtained from Academic Affairs or HEA (Hal Ehwal Akademik) and based on

this list, 150 students were selected randomly using the stratified random sampling technique.

However the usable returned questionnaires were only 110.The questionnaire used in this study

consists of three parts. Part A of the questionnaire is the background information about the students.

Part B of the questionnaire measure two aspects namely the importance of the selected soft skills and

to the extend to which it was taught to the students

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Sample Characteristics

The subjects that participated in this study were randomly selected from a complete and current

listing of the students in Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak. 100 full-time undergraduate

students were selected however only 86 usable questionnaires were returned. The average age of

the respondents is 23 years and the mean GPA is 2.90. Table 2 describes the demographic

characteristics of the respondents.

Table 2: The Respondents’ Demographic Variables

Demographic Variables Number Percentage (%)

GENDER

Male

Female

30

80

27.3

72.7

LEVEL OF STUDY

Bachelor of Administrative

Science (BAS)

Bachelor of Accounting

(BACC)

Bachelor of Business

Management (Marketing)

28

31

24

25.5

28.2

21.8

(BAM)

Bachelor of Business

Management (Finance)

(BAFFIN)

27

24.5

Demographic Variables Number Percentage (%)

TOTAL

110

100

4.2 Main Findings

1. To determine the gap between the importance and the extent to which soft skills are

taught ?

In addressing question 1, the mean score and the standard deviation of soft skills for the

importance and extent are reported. It appears that only four out of 22 items for importance of

soft skills are below 4 ( namely conflict management skills ( 3.91), Entrepreneurship skills (

3.94), Information search skills ( 3.92) and Lifelong learning skills ( 3.920 ). Whereas for the

extent to which these skills are taught, only one skills is above 4, namely teamwork skills (4.12).

Gap scores indicate distance between importance of soft skills and the extent to which soft skills

are taught . This clearly indicates that there is significant gap between importance and extent

analysis of soft skills

2. To investigate whether UiTM Sarawak Samarahan campus students have the soft skills

required by the employers”?

To address this question, the mean scores for the two dimensions will be tested for significant

difference using the paired sample t-test. A significant difference would indicate that the students

do not have the soft skills required by the employer. The t-test indicates significant differences

between importance and extent at the 0.001 level.

3. Is there a significant between the importance and extent based on programs?”

The result of the one way ANOVA indicates that there is no significant difference in the

importance of the soft skills for the different programs. But for the extent to which the soft skills

are taught there is a significant difference across the different programs namely bachelor of

Accounting, Finance and marketing. This indicates that these three programs have different

levels at which this soft skills are taught, namely bachelor of marketing having the highest

extent ( 4.12) followed by bachelor of finance ( 3.73) and the bachelor of accounting having the

lowest extent (3.55)

4. Which soft skills is regarded as important to get a job by students ?

The soft skills with the highest mean score will be regarded as the most important soft skills. The

three items with the highest mean score are communication skills (4.50), time management skills

(4.40) and decision making skills (4.35).

5. CONCLUSION

This study is to investigate the implementation of soft skills amongst the students in Universiti

Teknologi MARA Sarawak, Samarahan Campus. This study studied the importance and the

extent to which soft skills were implemented in the university. This study found a significant gap

between importance and the extent to which soft skills were implemented. The results of the gap

analysis show a significant gap between importance and extent of soft skills. In general, the

results suggest that students placed great importance on the soft skills but the implementation is

lacking as can be seen from the scores given to the extent to which the soft skills are taught in the

class. T-test results show that there is a significant difference between the importance and extent

of the soft skills which points to a gap between the two variables.

The most important soft skills that students considered important to get a job is communication

skill and time management skill but the soft skill that is taught to a great extent is teamwork,

meaning there is less emphasis is being given to communication skills and time management

skills in the classroom but more emphasis is given to teamwork. The reason for this could be that

more group projects are given to students which emphasis teamwork but time management is not

emphasized in completion of group projects.

The results of the One way Anova showed no significant differences in the importance of soft

skills for the three different faculties, indicating that all the students regarded the soft skills as

equal importance in getting a job. But the one way Anova results for the extent that the soft skills

are taught showed significant differences namely for the business faculties like accounting,

finance and marketing.

The findings of this study suggest that soft skills does enhance students’ employability The

researchers propose some recommendations in line with the findings of this study for further

research to be conducted on what types of skills employers consider university graduates should

possesses and what is the current status of our graduates from the perspective of the employer in

terms of soft skills required for the job. Soft skills research is still in its infancy and it is hoped that

this study can contribute to the existing research on soft skills in Malaysia. Soft skills research

can also concentrate on different types of jobs since different jobs require different soft skills.

Problems faced by students in developing soft skills can also contribute to theory of soft skills. In

the knowledge-based economy different set of soft skills may be required from employees, so

research on soft skills can include soft skills in the new economy.

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