SOFT SKILLS AND THE NEED FOR LEARNING SOFT SKILLS OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF HANOI MEDICAL UNIVERSITY, 2022

Abstract

Soft skills is an necessary skills for undergraduated students. Objectives: The goal of the study is to describe students' self-assessment of the level of necessity, level of proficiency and priority need for training in soft skills of first-year students majoring in nutrition, preventive medicine and public health, Hanoi Medical University in 2022. Method: Cross-sectional study among 181 students. Results: Most of students think that soft skills are necessary (from 85.1% to 93.4%). The level of proficiency in 14 soft skills is still low (students' self-rated communication skills are most proficient at 7/10 (10 is the most proficient), the lowest is communication skills in English (4/10), and proficient in using office computers (5/10). Students give first priority to learning English communication skills and communication skills. The vast majority of students want to learn soft skills for free (from 69.6% to 92.3%). Students' willingness to pay to learn to communicate in English is the highest. Conclusion and recommendations: Students all believe that learning soft skills is necessary and many soft skills of students are at an average level of proficiency. First-year students have a need to learn soft skills, especially English communication skills and communication skills. In order for students to have good soft skills after graduating from university, it is need to have activities to guide self-study and develop soft skills for students. In addition, teaching methods in universities pay more attention to combine soft skills for students with required professional knowledge.