The Students’ Perception of Their Soft Skills in Serbia
The Students’ Perception of Their Soft Skills in Serbia

Author(s): Agneš Slavić, Maja Strugar Jelača, Nemanja Berber
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Udruženje ekonomista i menadžera Balkana
Keywords: Students’ perception; Soft skills; Work experience; Serbia
Summary/Abstract: Today, in the dynamic business context, graduates have to be ready to deal with various business problems where different alternative solutions can be brought, but only one is optimal. It requires a set of competencies and soft skills such as critical and strategic thinking, problem-solving, communication and flexibility. The described situation mostly gives priority to various soft skills in relation to hard skills, i.e. professional knowledge acquired during the studies. The purpose of this research is to shed light on how soft skills are taught at the moment and how they should be taught in the future to prepare new employees to easily get their first job and reduce the rate of youth unemployment. This research aims to analyze how curricula at business universities prepare their students for the new demands of the labor market. For this aim, survey-based empirical research was realized on the student’s perception of the importance of soft skills in the sample of 245 students of the Faculty of Economics in Subotica, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Using Spearman’s correlation, it was determined that there is a statistically significant negative relationship between the student’s work experience during their studies and their perception of the studies preparing them for the new demands on the labor market. Therefore, students without work experience believe that their previous education has prepared them for the new demands of the employers, while students with work experience conclude that the competences acquired so far have not sufficiently prepared them for the new demands of the labor market. Today, it is more than necessary for students to acquire adequate skills beyond academic or professional knowledge. It is recommended to incorporate soft skills training into the hard skills courses in order to achieve an efficient and effective tertiary education for future employees.

• Details
• Contents