Assessing the soft skills development of undergraduate business administration students (#281)

Authors

Arratia Barrantes, Susana I.

Pinto Santos, Horviet V.

Luna Carpio, Juan

Alfonte Zapana, Reynaldo

Abstract

Soft skills have acquired great importance over the years and have become essential in the work environment, since professionals need to master these skills to perform adequately. However, there is uncertainty about whether students are prepared in soft skills upon graduation from universities. The purpose of this article is to examine the development of soft skills in higher education institutions. The higher education institutions have been selected on the basis that they are representative of the city of Arequipa. We conducted a survey in four universities during two periods, August and December 2019. These universities offer business administration programs and represent a population of 5,927 students. An 83-question questionnaire was administered to a non-probability convenience sample of 311 undergraduate students. 63.3% of students showed moderate soft skills development. This study highlights the importance of university leaders fostering the development of competencies in their students, through the implementation of strategies in undergraduate courses.