Competency Level of Communication, Creative Thinking and Problem Solving among Tertiary Students

Abstract

The challenges of Higher Learning Institutions (HEIs) today are closely related to efforts towards providing the human capital ultimately needed by the industries. Essentially, today’s industries seek highly skilled and competent human capital and workforce. Therefore, it is of the greatest tasks that higher learning institutions produce knowledgeable and highly skilled graduates. Nonetheless, the increase of unemployment rate among tertiary graduates raises several questions regarding the effectiveness of the national education system in producing high quality human capital for the workplace. This research paper discusses the competency level of communication, critical thinking and problem solving skills among Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) students. A total of 534 study samples were involved. The questionnaire method was used and analysed using the SPSS analysis version 23. Results of the study showed that the level of communication skills competence was at a high level with the mean value of 4.164. Whereas, the level of critical thinking competence and problem solving skills were at a moderate level mean value of 3.84. This study proves the utmost importance of competence skills such as the communication skills, as well as critical thinking and problem solving skills among graduates in entering future work environment. Essentially, employers and industries value these fundamental skills to achieve positive, systematic and high productivity in their organisations.