Cross-Industry Collaboration: Developing a Unified Soft Skills Framework for Graduates
Abstract
Malaysia's services sector, which is critical to the economy, faces challenges from technological advancements, globalisation, and shifting customer demands, with slow productivity growth and a shortage of skilled workers exacerbated by graduates lacking essential Soft Skills. The government has stressed the importance of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills for personal growth and leadership, but the Ministry of Higher Education's (MOHE) generic approach for Soft Skills is deemed inadequate for the specific needs of these industries. The objectives of the research are to list the themes related to Soft Skills, employability, and critical thinking; pinpoint the essential Soft Skills needed by employers; examine the Soft Skills offered by employers; and identify graduates’ Soft Skills from the viewpoint of employers. The study uses a Systematic Literature Review and a questionnaire for employers, with data analysed via SPSS version 25.0. Three key themes emerged from the reviewed articles: the critical importance of Soft Skills for graduates' employability, the gap in Soft Skills within the job market, and the need for collaboration between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and industries. Additionally, from the questionnaire to employers, it was discovered that teamwork skills are the most sought-after Soft Skills for employability. This study emphasises the importance of collaboration as a vital connection between academia and industry, ensuring that university teachings are aligned with real-world applications, so graduates are better equipped or the workforce. Closer collaboration between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and industries is necessary to ensure that the skills taught in universities match the demands of the job market, especially in practical applications.
References
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Chua, Y. P. (2008). Asas Statistik Penyelidikan: Analisis Data Skala Ordinal dan Skala Nominal (Buku 3). Kuala Lumpur: McGraw Hill.
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Davis, M., De Bari, J., & Maschi, S. (2023). Credentialling: Educational Pathways in Design. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, 9(2), 117 – 134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2023.03.001.
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Khawam, A. M., DiDona, T., & Hernández, B. S. (2017). Effectiveness of Teamwork the Workplace. International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Research, 32(3), 267 – 286.
Komperda, R., Pentecost, T. C., & Barbera, J. (2018). Moving beyond Alpha: A Primer on Alternative Sources of Single-Administration Reliability Evidence for Quantitative Chemistry Education Research. Journal of Chemical Education, 95(9), 1477 – 1491.
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Moidunny, K. (2009). The Effectiveness of the National Professional Qualification for Educational Leaders (NPQEL). [Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation]. The National University of Malaysia.
Munir, F. (2022). More than technical experts: Engineering professionals’ perspectives on the role of Soft Skills in their practice. Industry and Higher Education, 36(3), 294 – 305.
Nadarajah, J. (2021). Measuring the gap in employability skills among Malaysian graduates. International Journal of Modern Trends in Social Sciences, 4(15), 81 – 87. https://doi.org/10.35631/IJMTSS.415007
Nazrona, M. A., Lim, B., & Nga, J. L. H. (2017) Soft Skills Attributes and Graduate Employability: A Case in Universiti Malaysia Sabah. Malaysian Journal of Business and Economics, 4(2), 65 – 76.
Noah, J. B., & Aziz, A. A. (2020). A Systematic review on Soft Skills development among university graduates. EDUCATUM Journal of Social Sciences, 6(1), 53 – 68.
Oppong, N. Y., & Segbenya, M. (2023). Inter-Sector Managerial Skills Requirements in Ghana: Group Interactive Brainstorming Approach. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 8, 100594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100594
Poláková, M., Suleimanová, J. H., Madzík, P., Copuš, L., Molnárová, I., & Polednová, J. (2023). Soft Skills and their Importance in the Labour Market under the Conditions of Industry 5.0. Heliyon, 9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18670
Rebelo, H., Christodoulou, P., Payan-Carreira, R., Dumitru, D., Mäkiö, E., Mäkiö, J., & Pnevmatikos, D. (2023). University-Business Collaboration for the Design, Development, and Delivery of Critical Thinking Blended Apprenticeships Curricula: Lessons Learned from a Three-Year Project. Education Sciences, 13(10), 1041. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13101041.
Sebastião, L., Tirapicos, F., Payan-Carreira, R., & Rebelo, H. (2023). Skill Profiles for Employability: (Mis)Understanding between Higher Education Institutions and Employers. Education Sciences, 13(9), 905. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13090905.
Siddoo, V., Sawattawee, J., Janchai, W., & Thinnukool, O. (2019). An Exploratory Study of Digital Workforce Competency in Thailand. Heliyon 5(5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01723.
Sloman, K. N. (2010). Research Trends in Descriptive Analysis. The Behavior Analyst Today, 11(1), 20 – 35.
Su, J., & Zhong, Y. (2022). Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Early Childhood Education: Curriculum Design and Future Directions. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2022.100072.
Succi, C., & Wieandt, M. (2019). Walk the Talk: Soft Skills’ Assessment of Graduates. European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 28(2), 114 – 125. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-01-2019-0011
Sundstrom, E. (1999). The Challenges of Supporting Work Team Effectiveness. In E. Sundstrom (Ed.), Supporting Work Team Effectiveness, 2 – 23. Jossey-Bass.
Tran, L., Ngo, N. T. H., Nguyen, H. T. M., & Le, T. T. T. (2022). Employers’ Approaches to Assessing Graduate Employability. Employability in Context. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04144-0_5
Wang, D., Liu, X., & Deng, H. (2022). The Perspectives of Social Cognitive Career Theory Approach in Current Times. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2022.1023994
Wardatul Aishah Musa. (2014). Kesedaran kendiri terhadap aktiviti kokurikulum dan keberkesanannya kepada remaja, ICSSR e-Journal of the Social Science Research, 778 – 785.
Wilkie, D. (2019). Employers Say Students Aren't Learning Soft Skills in College: Part 2: College grads are deficient in critical thinking, teamwork, speaking and writing, executives say. SHRM. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/employee- relations/employers-say-students-arent-learning-soft-skills-college
Yong, B. P. P., & Ling, Y. L. (2023). Skills Gap: The Perceptions of Importance of Soft Skills in Graduate Employability Between Employers and Graduates. Journal of Techno-Social, 15(1), 16 – 33.
Zainal Shah, N., Ab Aziz, N. S., & Balraj, B. M. (2022). Soft Skills for Employability from Academics Perspectives. Journal of Advances in Humanities Research, 1(3), 16 – 36. https://doi.org/10.56868/jadhur.v1i3.36.
Al Asefer, M., & Zainal Abidin, N. S. (2021). Soft Skills and Graduates’ Employability in the 21st Century from Employers’ Perspectives: A Review of Literature. International Journal of Infrastructure Research and Management, 9(2), 44 – 59.
Arce, E., Suárez-García, A., López-Vázquez, J. A., & Fernández-Ibáñez, M. I. (2022). Design Sprint: Enhancing STEAM and Engineering Education through Agile Prototyping and Testing Ideas. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2022.101039
Basir, N. M., Zubairi, Y. Z., Jani, R. & Wahab, D. A. (2022). Soft Skills and Graduate Employability: Evidence from Malaysian Tracer Study. Pertanika Social Sciences & Humanities, 30(4), 1975 – 1989.
Britton, E., Simper, N., Leger, A., & Stephenson, A., (2017). Assessing Teamwork in Undergraduate Education: A Measurement Tool to Evaluate Individual Teamwork Skills. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(3), 378 – 397. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1116497.
Christensen, C.R., Garvin, D.A. and Sweet, A. (1992). Education for Judgment: The Artistry of Discussion Leadership, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
Chua, Y. P. (2008). Asas Statistik Penyelidikan: Analisis Data Skala Ordinal dan Skala Nominal (Buku 3). Kuala Lumpur: McGraw Hill.
Cronbach, L. (1951). Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297 – 334.
Dancey, C., & Reidy, J. (2004). Statistics Without Maths for Psychology: Using SPSS for Windows. London, England: Prentice Hall.
Davis, M., De Bari, J., & Maschi, S. (2023). Credentialling: Educational Pathways in Design. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, 9(2), 117 – 134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2023.03.001.
De Prada, E., Mareques, M., & Pino-Juste, M. (2022). Teamwork Skills in Higher Education: Is University Training Contributing to their Mastery? Psychology: Research and Review, 35(5). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-022-00207-1
Dodge, Y. (2008). Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient. In The Concise Encyclopedia of Statistics, 502 – 50. New York, NY: Springer. Retrieved from Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-32833-1_379 DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.82999
Fahed-Sreih, J. (Ed.). (2020). Career Development and Job Satisfaction. IntechOpen. Science, 10(10), 583 – 592.
Kajewski, K. & Madsen, V. (2013). “Demystifying 70:20:10”, Deakin Prime, available at: http://deakinprime.com/media/47821/002978_dpw_70-20 10wp_v01_fa.pdf
Karimi, H., & Pina, A. (2021). Strategically addressing the Soft Skills gap among STEM undergraduates. Journal of Research in STEM Education, 7(1), 21 – 46.
Khawam, A. M., DiDona, T., & Hernández, B. S. (2017). Effectiveness of Teamwork the Workplace. International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Research, 32(3), 267 – 286.
Komperda, R., Pentecost, T. C., & Barbera, J. (2018). Moving beyond Alpha: A Primer on Alternative Sources of Single-Administration Reliability Evidence for Quantitative Chemistry Education Research. Journal of Chemical Education, 95(9), 1477 – 1491.
Laguna-Sánchez, P., Segovia-Pérez, M., Fuente-Cabrero, C. d. l., & Vargas-Peréz, A. M. (2021). A Collaborative Model for Leadership Education in High-Potential University Women Students. Journal of Open Education: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 7(2), 138 – 158. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc7020138.
Leech, N. L., Barrett, K. C., & Morgan, G. A. (2005). SPSS for Intermediate Statistics: Use and Interpretation (2nd Ed.). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Levi, D. (2014). Group Dynamics for Teams (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Mainga, W., Daniel, R. M., & Alamil, L. (2022). Perceptions of Employability Skills of Undergraduate Business Students in a Developing Country: An Exploratory Study. Higher Learning Research Communications, 12(1), 28 – 63. http://dx.doi.org/10.18870/hlrc.2022.v12i1.1257.
Miller, N. E. & Dollard, J. (1941). Social Learning and Imitation. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia (2006). Module for the Development of Soft Skills for Higher Learning Institution Malaysia. Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Moidunny, K. (2009). The Effectiveness of the National Professional Qualification for Educational Leaders (NPQEL). [Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation]. The National University of Malaysia.
Munir, F. (2022). More than technical experts: Engineering professionals’ perspectives on the role of Soft Skills in their practice. Industry and Higher Education, 36(3), 294 – 305.
Nadarajah, J. (2021). Measuring the gap in employability skills among Malaysian graduates. International Journal of Modern Trends in Social Sciences, 4(15), 81 – 87. https://doi.org/10.35631/IJMTSS.415007
Nazrona, M. A., Lim, B., & Nga, J. L. H. (2017) Soft Skills Attributes and Graduate Employability: A Case in Universiti Malaysia Sabah. Malaysian Journal of Business and Economics, 4(2), 65 – 76.
Noah, J. B., & Aziz, A. A. (2020). A Systematic review on Soft Skills development among university graduates. EDUCATUM Journal of Social Sciences, 6(1), 53 – 68.
Oppong, N. Y., & Segbenya, M. (2023). Inter-Sector Managerial Skills Requirements in Ghana: Group Interactive Brainstorming Approach. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 8, 100594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100594
Poláková, M., Suleimanová, J. H., Madzík, P., Copuš, L., Molnárová, I., & Polednová, J. (2023). Soft Skills and their Importance in the Labour Market under the Conditions of Industry 5.0. Heliyon, 9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18670
Rebelo, H., Christodoulou, P., Payan-Carreira, R., Dumitru, D., Mäkiö, E., Mäkiö, J., & Pnevmatikos, D. (2023). University-Business Collaboration for the Design, Development, and Delivery of Critical Thinking Blended Apprenticeships Curricula: Lessons Learned from a Three-Year Project. Education Sciences, 13(10), 1041. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13101041.
Sebastião, L., Tirapicos, F., Payan-Carreira, R., & Rebelo, H. (2023). Skill Profiles for Employability: (Mis)Understanding between Higher Education Institutions and Employers. Education Sciences, 13(9), 905. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13090905.
Siddoo, V., Sawattawee, J., Janchai, W., & Thinnukool, O. (2019). An Exploratory Study of Digital Workforce Competency in Thailand. Heliyon 5(5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01723.
Sloman, K. N. (2010). Research Trends in Descriptive Analysis. The Behavior Analyst Today, 11(1), 20 – 35.
Su, J., & Zhong, Y. (2022). Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Early Childhood Education: Curriculum Design and Future Directions. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2022.100072.
Succi, C., & Wieandt, M. (2019). Walk the Talk: Soft Skills’ Assessment of Graduates. European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 28(2), 114 – 125. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-01-2019-0011
Sundstrom, E. (1999). The Challenges of Supporting Work Team Effectiveness. In E. Sundstrom (Ed.), Supporting Work Team Effectiveness, 2 – 23. Jossey-Bass.
Tran, L., Ngo, N. T. H., Nguyen, H. T. M., & Le, T. T. T. (2022). Employers’ Approaches to Assessing Graduate Employability. Employability in Context. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04144-0_5
Wang, D., Liu, X., & Deng, H. (2022). The Perspectives of Social Cognitive Career Theory Approach in Current Times. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2022.1023994
Wardatul Aishah Musa. (2014). Kesedaran kendiri terhadap aktiviti kokurikulum dan keberkesanannya kepada remaja, ICSSR e-Journal of the Social Science Research, 778 – 785.
Wilkie, D. (2019). Employers Say Students Aren't Learning Soft Skills in College: Part 2: College grads are deficient in critical thinking, teamwork, speaking and writing, executives say. SHRM. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/employee- relations/employers-say-students-arent-learning-soft-skills-college
Yong, B. P. P., & Ling, Y. L. (2023). Skills Gap: The Perceptions of Importance of Soft Skills in Graduate Employability Between Employers and Graduates. Journal of Techno-Social, 15(1), 16 – 33.
Zainal Shah, N., Ab Aziz, N. S., & Balraj, B. M. (2022). Soft Skills for Employability from Academics Perspectives. Journal of Advances in Humanities Research, 1(3), 16 – 36. https://doi.org/10.56868/jadhur.v1i3.36.
Published
2024-11-01
How to Cite
AB AZIZ, Nur Syafiqah; ZAINAL SHAH, Norshima; ABDUL NASIR, Afifah Quraishah.
Cross-Industry Collaboration: Developing a Unified Soft Skills Framework for Graduates.
International Journal of Advanced Research in Education and Society, [S.l.], v. 6, n. 3, p. 536-550, nov. 2024.
ISSN 2682-8138.
Available at: <https://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijares/article/view/28048>. Date accessed: 07 dec. 2024.
Section
English Section
