ANALYSIS OF GAP BETWEEN STUDENTS’ AND GRADUATES’ SOFT SKILLS: THE CASE OF SCHOOL OF ECONOMIC AND LAW AT TRA VINH UNIVERSITY

Abstract

One critical measurement of success in workplaces is the abilities of graduates in applying the knowledge, skills and values into the needs of their job. This study was conducted to seek the gap of soft skills of Tra Vinh  University students compared to labour-market standard. The quantitative data was collected at School of Economics and Law with a sample of 362 students and 300 graduates to measure their soft skills. Generally, both students and graduates are still unconfident of their own soft skills, this affacts their self-affirmation. Moreover, the importance of soft skills is also acknowledged, namely critical thinking, problem-solving,  selflearning, work-management skills and teamwork as well as communication skills which need to beprioritized equipped for any kinds of workplaces. Nonetheless, the aforementioned skill gap is significantly remarkable, especially regarding the communication skills. Based on these analyzes, some solutions are proposed to the work recruitment, schools and graduates to lessen the skill gap and meet the demands of labour markets.