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Australia; key skills or core skills in United King- sector, their expectations of the type of manpower
dom; essential skills in New Zealand; and necessary in terms of both discipline specific hard skills and
skills, employability skills or workplace know-how soft skills and inculcate these in the students through
in United States. Although, the nomenclature may various curricular and extra-curricular interventions.
vary but their centrality to competence of an indi- Giving sufficient weightage to soft skills in cur-
vidual and need and importance especially in today's riculum of the courses of higher education would
techno-economic scenario has been accepted and not only strengthen the employable skills for work-
readily appreciated. According to Costin (2002), the force effectiveness and competency but also help in
appropriate and skilful application of hard skills is building better social and cultural relations leading
soft skills dependent. He categories hard skills as to success and quality oflife.
being those associated with 'product' and the 'indi- Understanding the importance of soft skills in
vidual', while soft skills are those of 'process and today's competitive world and the role of higher
community: warning against being too ready to di- education in building competent and relevant man-
chotomize the two, he proposes a soft skill- hard skill power for the economic and social growth of the
continuum . Such amodel makes it easierto compre- country, most of the educational institutions in India
hend the territory in which soft and hard skills blur, have initiated programmes, projects and activities
mend and work together (l). for developing soft skills in students, the manpower
The imporlance of soft skills in today's global of future. Institutions are using different approaches,
environment can be further emphasized based on the methods. media. evaluation and assessment mechan-
findings of various surveys conducted in different isms. There was a need to understand the impact of
countries. A survey on'Technological Innovation, these initiatives for developing right type of man-
Ageing Labour Forces and Effective use of Human power for meeting the needs of the emerging know-
Resource' conducted in Japan emphasizes that a ledge economy of the country.
worker will be required not only to perform a com- Keeping in view, the above objective, a study was
plex job compounding several tasks - programming, undertaken in the most dynamic city of India,
maintenance, monitoring and operation, he or she Chandigarh, also recognized as the Knowledge City.
will be required, in addition, to possess logical The city, Chandigarh, has almost all types of educa-
mental power, problem solving ability and adaptab- tional facilities and campuses of many multi-national
ility to go through the changes. Such an 'All round and world class organisations and hence represents
worker' would be equipped with widely varied skills the changing scenario of Indian economy in terms
and technical knowledge in such a way that he under- of varied job opportunities available. The present
stands every action in the performance of skills in study tries to understand the awareness, need and
relation to the relevant technical knowledge. Another importance of soft skills in students, type of
survey conducted in New Zealand on the perception courses/proj ects/activities initiated by varied educa-
of employers about the most important skills and tional institutions at undergraduate and postgraduate
knowledge among employees emphasizes commu- levels, their relevance, teachingJearning process,
nication skills, supewision skills, diagnostic skills their impact and benefits to students. This paper
and design ability. An Australian study by Stevenson presents the findings of this study. The paper also
and Mckavanagh argues for a more comprehensive puts forward some recommendations for making
view of skills and emphasizes the need for 'the less above initiatives more effective for developing
obvious but important transferable skills such as competent students as per the requirements of the
leaming how to learn, discovery, analysis, problem world of work.
solving, experimentation, linking new concEpts with
existing knowledge, relating verbal and non verbal Review of Literature
representations and concrete objects, analysing and
Although alarge amount of documents, reports, re-
interpreting (2).
search papers, articles etc. were reviewed for the
These studies and similar other studies conducted
study, however, a few important are presentedbelow:
throughout the world clearly highlight the importance
Rosalie Flynn (2006) in his discussion paper pre-
ofsoft skills. Thus, the higher education and training
pared for Australian Industry Group and the Busi-
system for this emerging formal economy, that is
ness, Industry and Higher Education Collaboration
increasingly imbued with higher technologies and
Council highlights employment outcomes of higher
globalisedknowledge will have to deal with the twin
education. While presenting the definitions and de-
challenge ofbuilding both: higher order soft skills
scriptions of graduate employment skills, he explains
as well as specific hard skills because the manpower
the ways and means adopted for developing, assess-
with only hard technical skills will have little value
ing and recording these skills in the universities of
if it is poor in soft skills. The need of the present
Australia (3).
time is to find out from industrv. business and service
MEENU WATS. RAKESH KUMAR WATS
I by them (8).
Saxton ( I 996) highlights the importance of generic
was of the view that for the personal growth of
an individual, soft skills are one of the most im-
value of soft skills as they relate to employability in today's scenario is almost impossible. You
is largely due to their transferable nature. may have excellent knowledge, but unless you
Regarding relationship between hard skills and are able to convey that knowledge to others and
soft skills, most of the respondents were of the convince them, it is of no use. So, effective
opinion that both ofthem are interlinked. Several communication is the buzzword today, whether
respondents indicated that soft skills cannot be you are at your home, work place and in society
easily separated from the discipline specific hard at national level or intemational level. Other five
skills and are equally important as hard skills. A soft skills which ranked high especially in
section of the respondents was of the view that today's world of work are problem solving skills,
it is relatively easy to teach discipline specific leadership skills, team work skills, IT skills and
hard skills to those who already possess import- learning to learn skills, though, other soft skills
ant soft skills, but it is not so easy to build soft like creativity and innovation, managing self,
skills if individuals lack them. coping with change, initiative and entelprise,
While ranking the important soft skills especially sensitivity towards global, societal and environ-
in today's fast changing techno-economic and mental issues, motivation skills etc. are also very
competitive world, almost 100% of the respond- important. Figure 1 presents some of the import-
ents were of the view that the most important ant soft skills required to be developed in stu-
soft skill for any individual is communication dents.
skill. Without effective communication, success
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lectures, going through examples, seminars and activities. A section of the respondents was of
debates, team working methods, extra-curricular the view that no one method is self sufficient for
activities, role playing and demonstration, exper- developing soft skills. These methods must be
iential learning, self assessment and feedback, used in combination for developing different soft
computer assisted learning, case sfudies and skills in students. In addition, suitability of a
problem solving, field visits etc. However, in particular method also depends on individual
terms of ranking of learning methods for devel- student in terms of his previous knowledge and
oping soft skills in students, the first five methods skills background, learning style, pace and con-
were experiential learning, role-playing and venience etc. Figure 3 presents some of the im-
demonstration, team working methods, case portant methods of soft skills development in
studies and problem solving and extra-curricular students.
I I
(l)
0.8
0.7
t u'
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0.8
I E 0.4
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0.3
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development of soft skills in students is creating other professional courses indicate that soft skills
awareness through lectures and demonstrations. component is embedded in the curriculum of
However, under C-TOSS programme and in these programmes and skills are expected to be
some of the other industry specific programmes developed in association with other hard technic-
team working methods, debates, group discus- al skills. However, the development of soft skills
sions, role playing, case studies, problem solving, is dependent on the individual teachers' and their
experiential learning, field visits etc. are some understanding of the depth and breadth of cur-
ofthe other approaches used for developing soft riculum and the objectives of each subject. In
skills in students. addition to their being embedded in curriculum,
As in most of the institutions, the prografirmes some of the courses specifically dealing with
for soft skills development are limited to creation concepts, basic principles and practices of soft
of awareness and the programmes are non-credit skills also form the part of the curriculum. These
based, no specific methodology is adopted to specific courses are generally dealt by the teach-
evaluate their development in students. Howevel ers of Humanities and Social Sciences. One of
under C-TOSS programme a computer-based the institutions (Punjab Engineering College,
test is conducted to evaluate the development of Chandigarh) has incorporated design courses in
these in students. The test was earlier conducted the curriculum of different engineering pro-
by SPIC Microsoft. Now, from the year 2007 grammes to inculcate the skills of analytical and
onwards this test is named'National Assessment logical thinking, creativity, problem solving etc..
of Competency (NAC)" and is conducted in Besides above, laboratory courses have also been
collaboration with software association NAS- made integral part of curriculum, for students to
SCOM. make decisions at each stage from formulating
Almost 100% of the respondents were of the objectives to analysing the results and working
view that the creation of awareness about the in groups. For developing communication skills
importance of soft skills in today's competitive seminars, group discussions, debates etc. form
world was one of the biggest impacts of these the features of teaching-learning process. For
soft skills development programmes organized making the students sawy-users of information
in various institutions in Chandigarh. Many stu- technology, ICT (information and communica-
dents were of the view that these programmes tion technology) is being used as an effective
have resulted in enhanced confidence leading to tool to deliver content.
better performance in job interviews. A section
ofteachers was of the view that better awareness
Gonclusions
shall lead to better application of knowledge and
skills, adaptability to change and thereby better The changing techno-economic scenario and the ever
job performance. increasing importance of information and communic-
The records of the placement cells of most of the ation technologies in this globalised world have led
institutions and discussions with the faculty of to changed requirements in the human resource pro-
placement cells indicate that the students who file. The earlier emphasis of competent human re-
took specific interest in the development of these source with high quality hard skills has changed to
skills in them and also adopted alternative means hard skills along with proficiency in soft skills. The
for their development were better performers in education sector which is the backbone for the devel-
job interviews conducted by various companies opment of competent human resource for any coun-
and they also got selected for the jobs.' try's growth and development cannot remain unaf-
Most of the responding students were of view fected by this major shift in the employment sector.
that the programmes organised by the institutions Institutions especially ofhigher learning have started
were sufficient for creation of awareness about understanding the importance of developing soft
the importance of soft skills in today's scenario. skills in students for making them relevant to the
However, a lot needs to be done regarding their changedrequirements of the world of work. This has
nature, duration, design, content, methodology been shown by this study, which has been conducted
and conduct. A professional approach needs to in Chandigarh, one of most of modern cities of the
be adopted in various aspects of these pro- country, an educational hub for almost all types of
grammes. In addition, these progtammes must courses, a knowledge city of future and a trendsetter
be conducted in collaboration and partnership for the country in all aspects of life. The findings of
with industry for making them more relevant, the study indicate that most of the str:dents, especially
valid and recognizable in today's context. those studying in higher education courses, are aware
The data collected from institutes conducting of the impqrtance of soft skills in today's competitive
engineering degree programmes and some ofthe world. Although, the level ofunderstanding amongst
MEENU WAIS. RAKESH KUMAR WATS
studenB varies, but one point oi consensus is there experiences, evaluation, assessment and certi-
that without appropriate soft skills, survival and fication of competency for better acceptability
grouth in today's competitive world is not possible in market.
as these skills lead to better performance in work 3 A common theme for teaching and learning of
place. Seeing the value of soft skills development in generic skills (soft skills) is that the success
students, most of institutions have initiated projects depends crucially on them being made explicit
and programmes for developing the same. These for students. Leaving them implicit, as they are
projects and programmes are mainly limited to cre- in many traditional courses, does little to encour-
ation ofawareness through lectures and workshops. age learning and development (10). The cur-
Most of these programmes are unstructured, short riculum of most of the courses need to be made
term. non-credited based and ill linked with the dis- as explicit as possible leading to clarity ofex-
cipline of individual's study, leading to lack of enthu- periences to be provided to students through
siasm and motivation amongst students undergoing appropriate methods, media and approaches for
these programmes. The responsibility for the conduct developing both discipline specific hard skills
of these programmes mostly lies with a few individu- and appropriate soft skills. Even the evaluation
als, especially the faculty/officials looking after the and assessment mechanisms need to be made
job and placement services in the academic institu- more detailed making expectations from teach-
tions. Other teachers' are either not appreciative of ers and students very clear and without any
their role in developing soft skills amongst students ambiguity. In addition, the assessments must
or are not clear about the nomenclafure of soft skills, be 'educationally sound; valid, adequately reli-
their interlinkages with hard skills in curriculum able, cost effective and useful forjob selection
documents, methods, media and approaches needed and career planning (1 l).
for their development and evaluation and assessment A
Curricula ofcourses need to include and integ-
mechanisms. In addition to the above programmes rate cognitive knowledge with soft skills leading
running in the institutions of Chandigarh, a few small to a proper linkage between theory and practice
but significant experiments like C-TOSS (Chandigarh for developing soft skills in students. Even some
Training of Soft Skills) by SPIC Microsoft and by course modules that can meet these objectives
other companies like IBM etc. are noteworthy ex- need to be developed.
amples as the programmes under these are relevant 5 The skills and expertise of faculty to develop
as per the needs of industry (especially IT and IT and implement curricula that interweave soft
enabled services). structured and modular and use and hard skills need to be continuously de-
appropriate approaches for instructional delivery and veloped through varied leaming processes incor-
assessment. But due to their small access, the impact porating the practices and processes ofindustry
of these programmes is very minute. and real life.
6 Both bolt on and integrating teaching techniques
should be used in consonance for effective de-
Recommendations
velopment of soft skills in students. While bolt
Based on the review ofliterature, data collected and on approach shall lead to explicit development
discussions and observations made during the study, of appropriate skills as per the customized needs
a few recommendations are being put forward for of specific industry, it will also provide oppor-
making the mission of soft skills development in tunities to students to develop their abilities as
students highly effective, efficient and responsive self-assessors for personal and professional
for the growth and development of an individual, growth. lntegrating approach of soft skills de-
society and country in general. These are: velopment shall be highly relevant if skills de-
velopment is to incorporate knowledge and un-
l. Developing soft skills in students should be the derstanding, analysis, creativity and evaluation
mandate of each institution. The performance for better real life application of skills in work-
of the institutions should not be judged only on place. So, for making soft skills development
the discipline specific hard skills competency programmes more effective, in addition to de-
of their students but also the proficiency of velopment of these skills along with discipline
students in terms of effective communication, specific hard skills, a few courses maybe incor-
interpersonal relations, working in teams, adapt- porated in the curriculum ofall the disciplines.
ability to change, capability of solving prob- These courses should be credit based. Relevant
lems, self awareness and management etc. methods and media for instructional delivery
2. For making soft skills development prograrnmes and evaluation and assessment mechanisms
relevant, industry must be involved in defining should be used. The certificate indicative of at-
skill set, designing interlinked curriculum, im-
plementing curriculum through various leaming
t0 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEARNING,
I
VOLUME 15
I
tainment of
I
specific competency should be
7.
given to students.
Academic institutions should establish well
veloped and requirements outlined to challense
students to embrace interdependence and thii< f
critically, systematically and strategically in
developed systems for informing learners about
preparation for becoming valuable organization_ T
how soft skills would be taught and assessed.
Courses should be structured, activities de_
al contributors.
I
References I
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]rz\:ri:)
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-
E
About the Authors
+
E
IJ
Dr. Meenu Wats
orking experience of more than l g years of teaching
and XII classes in schools. She has many research
and personal guidance and counselling to students.
activities like dance, dramas,
music, debates etc. She has participated in nationar lev
level. Her hobbies incrude singing, ristening to music
uring her studies at University
n
r=
Iil
Dr. Rakesh Kumar Wats
J
il
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TTR,Chandigarh.