Integration of Students’ Soft and Hard Skills in Automotive Vocational and Technical Schools

Abstract

The article presents the author’s integrated course, which is directly aimed at the parallel development of students’ soft- and hard-skills who master the profession in the automotive industry. Hard skills formation requires the acquisition of professional knowledge and implementation of instructions that can be tested through the exam. In contract, softskills include general, supra-professional skills (social, intellectual and volitional competencies, sociability, teamwork skills, leadership skills, creativity, punctuality , emotion management skills, etc.). In the coming years, significant changes are forecast in the automotive industry, in the design of heat engines, aimed not only at their improvement in particular, but also at the use of fundamentally new designs and types of engines. Under such conditions, a significant number of specialists will be forced to retrain, in the process of which fundamental training, the formation of softskills in particular, should be a significant help. It is covered a long time to quantify the effectiveness of the integrated special course, and three leading softskills (critical thinking, creativity and cognitive flexibility) are identified. It is concluded that the integration of softand hard skills is an effective means of developing knowledge, skills and thinking, which contributes to improving the professionalism of professionals. The study of the proposed author’s course gives positive changes in the professional competence of future automotive professionals.

Human Skills in the Era of Industry 4.0 in the Indian Automotive Industry

“…While technical expertise and manufacturing innovations are highly valued, human skills such as communication, teamwork, adaptability and leadership receive limited attention within the industry, creating a skills gap that needs addressing (ARM Automotive; n.d.; Basu, 2019;Chenoy et al, 2019;FICCI et al, 2017;Kumar & Bhatia, 2020;Wankhede & Vinodh, 2021). Despite extensive global research on the significance of human skills in the automotive industry, there is a noticeable gap in understanding their role within the unique context of the Indian automotive sector (Auto Training Centre, 2022;Escamilla Vielma et al, 2022;Firmansyah & Soeharto, 2020;Kozlovsky et al, 2022). This gap presents an opportunity for empirical inquiries to explore the impact of human skills on career development and industry competitiveness, filling a critical void in the literature.…”