Applications of Soft Skills in Engineering Programme at Polytechnic Malaysia

Abstract

Rapid global economic development demands a more competitive workforce. Employers nowadays prefer prospective employees who have high soft skills in professionalism and sociology aspects. Engineering students and lecturers at the polytechnics have conducted this study to identify the level of communication skills, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship skills and moral and professional ethics that has been applied. The research design that was used was a descriptive survey type for research samples. The samples involved 195 students and 106 lecturers of civil engineering at the Malaysian Polytechnics. Research was conducted using a questionnaire and analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0. The results showed the level of communication skills, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship skills and moral and professional ethics to be moderate. The results also showed that no statistically significant differences were found between students and lecturers in the application of soft skills. In conclusion, this study suggests that lecturers use a variety of approaches to improve the level of soft skills among students in civil engineering.