Generic Skills of Final Year University Students in Preparation towards Industrial Revolution 4.0

Abstract

This study is aimed to identify the level of generic skills among final year university students in preparation towards Industrial Revolution 4.0. A total of 89 final year students from the Counseling Program had participated in this study. Data were collected using a questionnaire adapted from the generic skills questionnaire developed by SCANS, Mohamad Sattar et al., Kamaruddin , Soft Skills (KPTM) and the Malaysian Quality Framework (MQA) . Among the variables studied are the skills of communication, critical thinking and problem solving, teamwork, continuous learning and information management, moral and ethics, flexibility, and self-confidence. Results of the study show that the level of generic skills of these final year students is good. The final year students also exhibited high generic skills particularly for the self-confident, teamwork, and moral and ethics constructs. However, the critical thinking and problem solving construct showed opposite results, indicating that there is a negative relationship between generic skills and achievement (CGPA). Apart from that, the results also showed that there is a significant difference between generic skills and gender, but there is no significant difference with achievement. Communication, critical thinking and problem solving, continuous learning and information management, and flexibility skills emerged as the most important factors for effective learning in the four contexts under consideration. Finally, this paper ended with suggestions of further initiatives to be taken to improve the generic skills of university students in order to meet the aspirations of the National Higher Education Development Plan and Industrial Revolution 4.0.