IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mir/mirbus/v7y2017i6p1-12.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The importance of soft skills in the university academic curriculum: The perceptions of the students in the new society of knowledge

Author

Listed:
  • Orlando Petiz Pereira

    (Department of Economics, Universidade do Minho, Portugal.)

  • Carlos Alberto A.T. Costa

    (Universidade do Minho, Portugal.)

Abstract

This study focuses on the notion of competence in a perspective of structural change. It addresses the academic curriculum and the soft skills essential for the holder of a Bachelor's Degree to adapt to the labour market and endow the citizen with instruments deemed necessary for the integration of the person in the different dimensions of life. Evidence unfolds a great deal of sensitivity on the part of students regarding soft skills. Nonetheless, there are substantial differences among courses and between genders. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey, which was applied to our bachelor students between October 2013 and January 2014. We resorted to the use of the analysis of the main components and we used the VARIMAX method for determining the variance, which is analysed by means of the ANOVA model. The study underpins the importance of autonomy and social and emotional skills in the student's global university education and highlights the sensitivity of the students to transversal competences -soft skills-, as required by the current labour market.

Suggested Citation

  • Orlando Petiz Pereira & Carlos Alberto A.T. Costa, 2017. "The importance of soft skills in the university academic curriculum: The perceptions of the students in the new society of knowledge," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 7(6), pages 1-12, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:mir:mirbus:v:7:y:2017:i:6:p:1-12
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://thejournalofbusiness.org/index.php/site/article/view/1052/657
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pereira, O.P., & Assoreira, M.J.R., 2012. "Society And Technological Evolution: Challenges And Opportunities," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 12(2).
    2. Orlando P. PEREIRA, 2013. "METACOMPETENCES: HOW IMPORTANT FOR ORGANIZATIONS? Analysis of a Survey in Portugal," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 13(2), pages 73-88.
    3. repec:sdo:regaec:v:24:y:2015:i:2_10 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. PEREIRA, Orlando Petiz, 2015. "Vet: A Strategic Approach For Economic, Organisational And Personal Development In Eu Countries," Revista Galega de Economía, University of Santiago de Compostela. Faculty of Economics and Business., vol. 24(2), pages 111-124.
    5. PEREIRA, Orlando P. & COUTINHO, Maria Manuela C., 2009. "Knowledge Society And The Challenges To University Teaching: Application To Portugal," Estudios Economicos de Desarrollo Internacional, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 9(2), pages 107-124.
    6. Orlando P. PEREIRA, 2013. "Soft skills: from university to the work environment. Analysis of a Survey of Graduates in Portugal," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 13(1), pages 105-118.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Valeria Caggiano & Kai Schleutker & Loredana Petrone & Jerónimo González-Bernal, 2020. "Towards Identifying the Soft Skills Needed in Curricula: Finnish and Italian Students’ Self-Evaluations Indicate Differences between Groups," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-10, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Orlando Petiz Pereira & Carlos Alberto A.T. Costa, 2017. "The importance of soft skills in the university academic curriculum: The perceptions of the students in the new society of knowledge," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 7(6), pages 1-12, June.
    2. Orlando Petiz Pereira & Carlos Alberto A.T. Costa, 2017. "The University: An Institution of Co-creation and Social Transformation," Eastern European Business and Economics Journal, Eastern European Business and Economics Studies Centre, vol. 3(3), pages 245-269.
    3. Arriaga Costa, Carlos & Petiz Pereira, Orlando, 2019. "Values and trust in human capital: University students’ perceptions, 2015-2017," Revista Galega de Economía, University of Santiago de Compostela. Faculty of Economics and Business., vol. 28(1), pages 102-116.
    4. Miloš Krstić & José António Filipe & José Chavaglia, 2020. "Higher Education as a Determinant of the Competitiveness and Sustainable Development of an Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-22, August.
    5. Pereira, O.P., & Coutinho, M., 2011. "Vitality And Requalification Of Cities: A Contribution To A Reconceptualization Of A Sustainable Urban Planning," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 11(2).
    6. Talal Ibrahim Almesad, 2021. "The Degree of Graduates Suitability of the Faculty and Institutes of the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training for the Requirements of Labor Market in Kuwait from Employers Perspectives," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(6), pages 122-122, December.
    7. repec:sdo:regaec:v:24:y:2015:i:2_10 is not listed on IDEAS

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mir:mirbus:v:7:y:2017:i:6:p:1-12. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: M Kabir (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csmirus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.