ENHANCING STUDENTS' 21ST CENTURY COMPETENCIES: THE IMPACT OF TARGETED TRAINING ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ESSENTIAL SOFT AND HARD SKILLS

Abstract

The present study investigates the effectiveness of short training to improve students' 21^st-century skills, including soft skills, hard skills, and competitiveness (SHC). The design of the study was a quasi-experimental design without a pre-test. The 50 participating students were divided into two groups; the first experimental group was students who attended a short training to improve their 21^st-century skills and the second group was students without the short training. Data were collected by using self-assessment through SurveyMonkey application. The evidence shows that the experimental group of students obtain 21st-century skills significantly higher than students without attending the short training. This study concludes that short training was effective to improve 21^st-century skills; soft skills, hard skills, and competitiveness. The findings implicate that training on 21^st-century skills is suggested to be provided for final year students as preparation for them to go to the real work. In addition, this is an effort of the University to prepare graduates' readiness to compete in the job market.