Meeting the market demand of generic skills : an analysis of generic skills acquisition among final year engineering students of KUiTTHO

Generic skills are perceived as the skills of the future. The future is all about the acquisition and manipulation of knowledge which then generates wealth. A high level of generic skills mastery enables this. In order to remain relevant in the Knowledge Based Economy, every prospective employee has...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Thayabarasilan, Sharma
Format: Thesis
Published: 2001
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1383/
http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1383/1/24_Pages_from_MEETING_THE_MARKET_DEMAND_OF_GENERIC_SKILLS_AN_ANALYSIS_OF_GENERIC_SKILLS_ACQUISITIO.pdf
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Summary:Generic skills are perceived as the skills of the future. The future is all about the acquisition and manipulation of knowledge which then generates wealth. A high level of generic skills mastery enables this. In order to remain relevant in the Knowledge Based Economy, every prospective employee has to inculcate a life long learning culture within him or herself and again a high acquisition of generic skills enables this. Equipping a graduate merely with a sound job specific or technical knowledge is perceived as inadequate due to the fast pace of the Knowledge Based Economy which results in knowledge or skills becoming obsolete fast. The fast obsolescence of knowledge poses a challenge to prospective employees to learn, unlearn and relearn throughout their lives. This generates a view that generic skills have become more dominant than job specific or technical skills, because a high acquisition of generic skills enables a high acquisition of technical or job specific skills. The findings of the research carried out on 150 final year Mechanical, Electrical and Civil Engineering students (as perceived by the students) of KUiTTHO, reveals that the generic skills awareness level of the students is low and their generic skills acquisition level is moderate. Steps have to be taken effectively to generate a high level of generic skills awareness, acquisition and importance among the students of KUiTTHO, regardless of programme.