TITLE:
A Study of Soft Skills among Polytechnic Students
AUTHORS:
Isdawati Ismail, Abdul Razaq Ahmad, Mohd Mahzan Awang
KEYWORDS:
Soft Skills, Polytechnics, Personality Development, Communication Skills, Management Skills, Leadership Skills, Writing Skills and Professional Ethics, Demographic
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.5 No.8,
August
30,
2017
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to examine the differences of soft skills practices based on demographic including gender, department of studies and locations. Soft skills in this study refer to personality development, communication skills, management skills, leadership skills, writing skills and professional ethics. This survey was conducted in Malaysia which involved 480 Polytechnic students from the northern zone (n = 120), the southern zone, (n = 120), the eastern zone, (n = 120), and Central zone (n = 120). Data were collected using a questionnaire that was analyzed using SPSS version 22.0 software comprising descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (one way MANOVA). Overall, results demonstrated that the levels of soft skills’ module implementation in polytechnic in terms of personal development, communication skills, management skills, leadership skills, writing skills and professional ethics from the students’ perspective is at a moderate level. MANOVA test showed that there was a significant difference based on the department of studies and zones. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference of soft skills based on the gender. Hence, the number of dialogue sessions with industry and relevant agencies need to be improved so that the industry requirement as a stakeholder can be met and indirectly enhanced the marketability value of the polytechnic students.