Soft skills are some of the skills needed to ensure that graduates fulfill the needs of the job market. Until 2010, almost 30% of unemployed graduates in Malaysia are technical graduates and one third comes are graduates from polytechnic. Most engineering graduates are proficient in technical skills but lack in soft skills. The lack of relevant knowledge among lecturers in order to identify appropriate ways and methods in the process of teaching and learning is one of the causes of lack in soft skills application. This study aims to identify the suitable teaching methods for the application of soft skills in the engineering programs for engineering students in Malaysian polytechnics. 488 students and 332 lecturers in engineering courses at the polytechnic had been questioned using questionnaires and interviews. The results showed that there is a relationship between the level of application of soft skills element with the teaching & learning methods used by lecturers. Based on these relationships, researchers had produced SoSTeM model as the model of application of soft skills for engineering students. Researchers also discovered that the use of teaching & learning methods for applying soft skills in engineering programs vary according to the elements of soft skills.
Government has allocated funds to build and upgrade the present infrastructures to deal with the increasing capacity of students at community colleges. Among its reasons were the needs to strengthen the training and skills enhancement system and to encourage participation from SPM leavers. However, in fact not many of them interested to enroll and fill up the available quota. Therefore, this study was conducted to get views on SPM leaver's perception towards community colleges and the courses offered. The quantitative survey designed which used questionnaires as an instrument. Samples of 105 respondents who were attending the National Service Training Program (NSTP) at Semberong Camp were chosen to represent the whole population of SPM leavers for the year of 2007. Findings showed that the perceptions of SPM leavers towards community colleges were at a moderate level, such as their acceptance towards the courses offered. At the same time, they were alert and informative pertaining to community colleges and the courses being offered. Others aspects have also taken into account such as participations, triggers, interest in courses and demographic factors. In summary, SPM leavers' perception and acceptance towards community colleges and the courses offered were at a moderate level and it illustrated tendencies towards positive perception.
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