Soft Skills and Graduate Employability: A Case of Business Administration Graduates of Uganda Christian University
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Date
2023-09-27
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Uganda Christian University
Abstract
The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the relationship between Soft Skills and Graduate Employability of Business Administration Graduates of Uganda Christian University. The study objectives were to determine the relationship between Leadership Skills, Teamwork Skills, Integrity Skills, Analytical Thinking Skills, Creativity Skills and Graduate Employability. The study used a Cross-Sectional Design supported by both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The sample size was 285 respondents, derived from the study population of 1050. Ten (10) representatives of firms took part in the study for qualitative data.
The results indicated that each of the dimensions of Soft Skills had a positive and significant relationship with Graduate Employability, that is; Leadership Skills (r=.604**, p<0.01); Teamwork Skills (r=.785** p<0.01); Integrity Skills (r=.688** p<0.01); Analytical Thinking Skills (r=.644** p<0.01) and Creativity Skills (r=.801** p<0.01). Furthermore, the results show that the predictors can explain 44.9 percent of the Variance in Graduate Employability (Adjusted R Square = .449). Creativity Skills are the best predictor of Graduate Employability (Beta = .551 Sig, p<.01), followed by Leadership Skills (Beta = .534, Sig, p<.01) and then Analytical Thinking Skills follow (Beta = .451 Sig, p<.01). Teamwork and Integrity Skills were also significant with lower variances in predicting Graduate Employability, that is (Beta = .363 Sig, p<.01) and (Beta = .277 Sig, p<.01), respectively.
It was recommended that Universities should encourage the formation of many University Clubs, Societies and other acceptable groups in which students are exposed to practical development of Soft Skills. It was further recommended that Staff Members be attached as Patrons to each group. Universities should consider having a Course Unit specifically for teaching Soft Skills to meet employers’ needs, apart from teaching them integrated in existing Courses. To give this kind of training, Lecturers should be developed in teaching Soft Skills, and then, they can develop the students.
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This is a dissertation