ABSTRACT
This paper aims to provide a critical literature review on the role of
generic competencies in designing, integrating, and assessing curriculum
in Malaysian higher education context. This study addresses the issue of
integrating generic competencies in higher education context. Moreover,
the challenges of implementation of generic competencies in higher
education institutions are identified. Then the research gap on the lack
of integrating generic competencies in Malaysian higher education system
is highlighted and the past studies which addressed the issue of
integrating and assessing generic competencies in Malaysian universities
are reviewed. The results revealed some Malaysian universities attempted
to integrate generic competencies into their curriculum to increase the
rate of employability; however, there is an ambiguity regarding the
assessment of generic competencies in the context of higher education.
Further research is required to be conducted to investigate the
assessment of generic competencies.
Keywords: Job skills, Curriculum development, Higher
Educations, Generic competencies, Malaysia.
Introduction
The nature of curriculum refers to divers range of issues such as
practical course, process, syllabus, product, and praxis (Kelly, 2010).
Curriculum as a product highlights education, and curriculum designers
set objectives, draw up a plan and measure the outcomes (Tyler, 1949).
The idea of the written curriculum, its implementation in
teaching-learning methods, learning engagement, and the student’s
autobiographical experience have been negotiated in an interactive
process (Blossey & Notzold, 1995). In this respect, curriculum as the
process approach is developed based on the informed and committed
actions (Grundy, 2006). Curriculum needs a continuous assessment of what
needs to be modified and what is considered valuable in order to be
developed via interaction between a dynamic action and contemplation.
In the context of higher education, the curriculum design is highly
affected by the social, economic, physical, and cultural environment.
Practical curriculum designers are supposed to identify students’ and
society’s needs to develop a new curriculum. However, recently there is
a critical scarcity in the number of effective curriculums since the
finalized curriculums found to be insufficient; led to less
participation in the industry training programs. In recent years, the
higher education has encountered unmatched disruption since top
companies clearly assert that curriculum designers design, deliver, and
assess degree qualifications in traditional ways. Graduate students fail
to perform well in the real world. In 20-year time, approximately half
of current jobs are more likely to be high-tech whereas 65% of school
children will be hired in jobs which are not exist yet (Yaacob, 2012).
Certainly, most future jobs require high social skills, as recent
economy generates wealth via creativity and consequently creativity is
effectively fostered through collaboration(Yin, 2009). Due to the
importance of social skills and creativity, universities are supposed to
align their curriculum design constructively to fulfill the future
workforce capabilities and to ensure continuous success. A future-ready
curriculum requires to emphasize skills and abilities which are
necessary across diverse jobs and work settings (Cowan, 1988).
In 2016, World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs reported that complexity
of skills will be increasing and advanced skills are required for
graduates. Based on World Economic Forum (WEF) most critical 21st
century skills are classified into three categories: Competencies,
Foundational Literacies, and Character Qualities. Over the past two
decades, many scholars have extensively discussed the application and
assessment of competences in context of higher education. Competencies
are defined as constructs, which expressed in behavior in a particular
context. Competences are defined as an integration of knowledge, skills
and attitudes are aligned to a professional context (Mateo, Escofet,
Martínez, Ventura, & Vlachopoulos, 2012). In what follows, the
controversy on core competencies in higher education curricula is
discussed. On the one hand, the opponents of competency based education
in higher education curriculum express that this curriculum is
excessively prescriptive and skill-oriented and hence this
competency-based curriculum is unfavorable to the academic context of
higher education. It has been reported that many higher education
universities in developing countries are experiencing a wide gap between
the needs of societies and their curricula. Hence, these curricula lack
high skills or competencies in problem solving, project management and
team working (van den Akker, 2007). Based on Biggs and Collis’s
definition (1982), competences are more likely to develop in five levels
in the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes: pre-structural,
uni-structural, and multi-structural, relational and extended abstract.
In the higher level of leaning, students can construct a logic and
generalise those meanings to other contexts (Biggs & Collis, 1982). A
requirement for reaching these higher level of learning is deep
learning. As students achieve a particular level to select competences
which associates with achieving the intended learning outcomes (Braun,
Woodley, Richardson, & Leidner, 2012). Therefore, competences and
learning outcomes are interrelated concepts.
In higher education context, the problem of ‘key skills’ pose the
challenge to planning curriculum to serve a more diverse student groups.
Primarily based on the Malaysia’s experience, this paper aims to review
different curriculum designs, alignment and outcomes, especially on
generic competencies, and its implementation of 21st century
employability skills in higher education context. Thus, the curriculum
designers recognized the necessity for transformation in curriculum of
higher education to assist students succeed in their future careers.
Moreover, this study aims to find the gap in the existing literature in
terms of generic skills to enhance the university’s awareness to deliver
quality learning more effectively to transform into as a world-class
university. In the following section, the concept and components of
generic competencies will be elaborated and reviewed.
Generic Competencies In the process of developing a curriculum, generic competencies are
used an umbrella term which refers to various types of generic
competencies namely time management, teamwork, communication,
creativity, problem-solving, and positive attitudes for instance
respect, lifelong learning, consideration, and appreciation for
students’ development. However, some alumni have ambivalent attitudes
towards generic competencies because they face uncertain difficulties
and practices in generic skills (Hughes & Barrie, 2010). Moreover,
university academics and teachers are not aware of the development of
generic skill issues; therefore, deeper investigations are required to
identify the challenges in developing a generic skill (Milne,
Drummond, & Renoux, 1998). Generic competences are applicable skills
across various professional contexts. These generic competencies occur
in key the social, occupational, and personal areas (Clarke & Braun,
2013). In another study, all the generic competences are summarized by
Young and Chapman (2010) based on twelve generic competence frameworks
from USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada, and Germany. Even
though, Young and Chapman (2010) inferred that competences related to
bachelor’s degree programmes could not be selected on the basis of
international consensus, owing to differences in students’ needs and
culture; hence, they managed to identify the most frequently appearing
competences. The most frequent appeared competences were:
communication skills, critical reflection, creativity, thinking
skills, self-management, leadership, information processing, problem
solving, social responsibility, lifelong learning, and teamwork (Young
& Chapman, 2010).
Consequently, they emphasized not only to develop university students’
work-related skills but also prepare them for being an effective members
of society” (Barrie, 2012) . Some experts criticize the inclusion of
core competency in the higher education curriculum. They pointed out two
detriments: One of the detriments of core competency inclusion is that
less emphasis is placed on disciplinary knowledge; hence, there is an
apprehension that students might not acquire the necessary
comprehensible knowledge in their discipline for an academic profession.
Another threat of core competency is that, it is restricted to the
achievement of thinking styles, and problem solving associated to a
particular profession (Chan, Fong, Luk, & Ho, 2017). Core competency in
education develops different approaches: problem-based learning
project-based education, case-based learning, and dual learning with
internships in the real workplace (Schmidt, Loyens, Van Gog, & Paas,
2007). While, curriculum development is considered as a complicated
process that form the ‘plan for learning’ involving ten interrelated
components: rationale, assessment, objectives, learning activities,
content, teacher role, location, resources, grouping, and time; hence,
if one component changes, it somewhat influences the other components
(van den Akker, Fasoglio, & Mulder, 2010).
The greatest challenge of higher education institutions (IHL) is to
enhance work-related skills and knowledge and generate local graduates
more appealing to their employers. Based on the findings from surveys
employers are more concentrate on soft skills or work-related skills
instead of technical competencies. The finding revealed that soft skills
for instance leadership, team working, communication, and
entrepreneurial concern were considerably significant for employing
employees and offering key positions (Yassin, Abu Hassan, Wan Mohd Amin,
& Amiruddin, 2008). Evers, Rush, and Berdow 1998 conducted a study to
investigate students’ competencies for increasing employability. They
found that students require developing management of people and tasks,
self-management, communications and encouraging innovation and producing
change. In another study carried out by Richens and McClain, 400
employers responded to a survey on their perception of essential
work-related skills and competencies for present and prospective
employees. The majority of employers maintained that they require
entry-level workers who have employability skills instead of technology
competencies. Moreover, 92.6% of employees regarded the following
skills important, namely thinking skills, interpersonal skills, and
personal quality competencies (Andrews & Russell, 2012).
Integrating and Assessing the Generic Competencies
The issue of integrating generic competencies into university courses by
instructors is the second concern in the course of planning,
implementing and assessing the curriculum. Noticeably, universities
looking for a change in exactly how professors manage the planning,
implementing and assessing phases of teaching and learning to integrate
this set of competencies into the university curricula. It should be
taken into account that generic competencies will develop if students,
alumni, and university cooperate and participate fully. To get
industries’ feedback, researchers could administer surveys to measure
and evaluate the influence of integrating generic competencies as needed
by the industries for continuous development (Shahrin, Toh, Ho, & Wong,
2002). In the assessment process, the assessor aims to verify whether
the student’s performance fulfill the standard requirements, which
planned by the standard setting. Standard setting in educational
assessments are utilized to make a variety of decisions in order to
group test takers according to their performance. Moreover, standard
setting process conducts quality assessment, either analytical or
holistic assessment.
There are two mechanisms for assessing generic competencies namely
academic-industry cooperation and variability in the methods of
assessment. In contrast to the students’ views, the instructors opposed
with this statement that lecturers could identify the proper mechanism
to evaluate student’s generic competency development. (Mayer, et al.,
2001) maintained that it is required to gather a variety of
professionals and experts from different industries so as to review the
criteria of assessment for generic competencies to meet the employers’
needs. In what follows, the challenges of integrating generic
competencies in the context of higher education are discussed.
Higher Education Challenges for Implementing Generic
Competencies
Higher education institutions face some challenges for implementing
generic competencies. The initial challenge of implementation of generic
competencies is the lack of identification of significance of these
competencies. Even though, the majority of universities have integrated
generic competencies into their mission reports and these competencies
are regarded as requirements for graduate students, some higher
institutes maintained that provision of generic skills is not required.
Almost 20 years later Bunney, (2015) highlighted that higher education
should not be planned only by bringing economic profits to the society,
but also higher education should encourage the individual development to
assist the achievement of work-related skills and improving the society
(Chan et al., 2017).
The second challenge is related to lack of integration of generic
competencies into curriculum planning and alignments; the third
challenge is associated with scarcity of providing professional
development to academicians. The significance of generic competencies
frequently is realized by students after they graduate from university.
Moreover, employers regard generic competencies highly important because
those skills have work-related nature. Reliable assessment enables
employers to get concrete information about students’ employability and
work-related skills. For the purpose of employment in government
sectors, they have some expectations in terms of developing generic
competencies. The graduates should prove the evidence that they develop
those competencies so as to turn into socially good citizens (Hughes &
Barrie, 2010). On the other hand, the question raised here is that
whether the assessments of generic competencies are required to be
evaluated and acknowledged. Based on Chapman and O’Neill, teachers are
required to contemplate on the assessment of generic skills.
The Malaysian University System and Curriculum
The Ministry of Higher Education was founded in 2004. The departments of
Higher Education Management Department (JPIPT) is divided into IPTA for
managing public universities and the IPTS for managing private
universities. In 2007, the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) was
founded to improve the academic quality in universities. The MQA is
considered as the reference and the basis of quality assurance with the
aim of implementing the Malaysian Qualification Framework to highlight
the standards for national qualification and ensure the quality of
higher education. MQF is developed and classified based on a collection
of nationally approved benchmarks and criteria against international
best practices. Moreover, MQF explains the learning outcomes in
different areas of study, determines deserved academic levels, and
credit system consistent with student academic load. Recognized higher
education sources approved and accepted those criteria all awarded
qualifications. Furthermore, MQF has laid great emphasis on learning
outcomes in different areas of study such as knowledge, social skills &
responsibility, psychomotor/technical skills, values, ethics,
professionalism, attitudes, team skills and communication, critical
thinking, lifelong learning, scientific approach, managerial &
entrepreneurial skills, and information management.
Despite the fact that MQF focused on the aforementioned criteria in
implementing curricula, experts have realized that jobless Malaysian
graduates are not sufficiently prepared with the required skills based
on employers’ expectation. Unemployed Malaysian graduate lack sufficient
skills in problem-solving skills, English language proficiency, as well
as lack of professional manners. Hence, one of the concerns of
parliamentarians is the public unemployment among Malaysian graduates.
HRM ASIA (2012) informs that each year, 150,000 people graduate from
Malaysian universities; however, many of those graduates are not
successful to secure a job.
This finding broadly was supported by (Wang & Chiew, 2013) who
mentioned that in December of 2012, Malaysia had very low rate of
unemployment of 3.3% (434,000 of its 13-million labor force); however,
the rate of graduate unemployment was quite high. Chiew (2013)
maintained that this high rate of graduate unemployment could be
attributed to a mismatch of talent in Malaysian higher institutions;
moreover, ineffective delivery system plays a major role in rate of
unemployment. Hence, the government took initiatives to assist graduates
to find jobs through establishing the government agency named as the
Graduate Career Accelerated Program (GCAP).
In accordance with Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, generic
competencies are the most important skills in the job market,
particularly in this fast emerging world of technology (Larson &
Miller, 2011). Based on the results of past studies on generic
competencies, the soft skills elements developed by the Malaysian
Ministry of Higher Education in 2007 and were introduced to the public
universities. Datuk Mustafa Mohamed, the previous minister of higher,
mentioned that the module of generic competencies or soft skills were
included in the curriculum after taking into account employers’
complaints about local graduates’ soft skills. Moreover, to address this
issue, the Malaysian government developed and implemented the new
curriculum plan to provide high quality outcomes in graduate levels
through concentrating on global careers. Moreover, universities are
making attempt to find ways to develop and assess critical skills in
their students.
Methods
In this study, the articles were collected form databases of library. 23
articles which investigated curriculum and generic competency in the
context of Malaysian higher education were selected. The researcher
employed the search criteria that the articles must be published
recently from 2005 to 2018 and the term ‘curriculum’ and ‘generic
competency’ should be existed in the title and the keywords. For doing
systematic literature review on curriculum and generic competencies, the
articles were systematically assessed during two months and our
attention was focused on the ideas and discussion on the notion of
integrating generic skills into higher education curriculum. The
articles were analyzed in two phases. Firstly, the existing gap in the
literature regarding the lack of generic competency in universities were
identified, then the concept of generic competencies is defined and
challenges of integrating those skills in curriculum design and
alignment are investigated. Secondly, the researcher raised the issue
related to the Malaysian curriculum design and lack of integration of
generic competencies in higher education, it is followed by reviewing
the studies that developed and integrated generic competencies into
Malaysian higher education systems (Clifford & Montgomery, 2015).
Integrating Generic Skills into Malaysian Higher Education
Institutions
Incorporating generic competencies into higher education curricular is
considered as a tough task. In what follows, the studies carried out to
integrate generic competencies in Malaysian higher educational context
are reviewed. The Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) redesigned the
graduate curriculum by integrating and implementing generic competencies
to enhance the employability of students. (Altbach, Reisberg, &
Rumbley, 2010) investigated and examined the challenges of integrating,
implementing and assessing this new curriculum which integrated the
components of generic skill competencies at UMT. The structure of
curriculum in UMT is developed based on three-stage of Ritz‘s Model. In
2004, UMT revised its curriculum, in each program, the emphasis was
given on integrating and implementing generic competencies in all
courses. UTM identified the components of generic competencies based on
the reports of the national unemployment and findings of past studies in
different universities. They integrated following skills: communication,
technology (ICT), analytical thinking, learning to learn, languages,
information communication, entrepreneurship, numerical competency, and
character building into the curriculum. Public Universities of Malaysia
documented the importance of these competencies in the Code of Practice
for Quality Assurance which assess the graduates’ ability to take their
responsibilities and roles (Md. Yunus et al., 2006).
Moreover, UMT enriched students’ campus knowledge through including
various co-curriculum activities to develop their social network and
skills. Hence, the co-curriculum activities were included to enhance
generic competencies, generate holistic, and versatile graduates either
directly or indirectly. Generally speaking, they integrated and trained
organizational skills, developed spirit of cooperation and teamwork,
leadership, and staff discipline. Furthermore, they provided students
with opportunities to discover their talents. Therefore, UMT offered
different co-curriculum courses or value added competencies including
sport and martial-arts activities, industrial training, cultural, and
leadership activities (Yunus, 2001). Moreover, this holistic curriculum
framework is designed to increase, soft skills & emotional spiritual
quotient, and content skills based on industrial-training, and real
knowledge through connecting with community with a range of proper
professional attitudes.
This holistic framework equips graduate students with a set of skills
which assist them to be productive members to succeed in a wide range of
responsibilities and tasks. It should be taken into account that these
attributes should be practiced professionally through professional
development programs to enable students to integrate the required skills
and knowledge. In a nutshell, the incorporation of generic skills
through both curriculum and co-curriculum programs particularly in the
united club and leadership activities provided students with value added
competencies and sustainable employment of graduates.
However, Yasin & Liu, (2016) mentioned that the success of this
curriculum is significantly dependent on the commitment, supervision,
monitoring, and the accessibility of the appropriate infrastructure. In
another study, (Khair, et al., 2012) highlighted that issues related to
integrating generic competencies into higher education curricular such
as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and other public universities in
Malaysia is not related only to the planning, implementing, and
assessing phases but also the issues related to logistical problems.
Besides, students and lecturers lack the existing resources to apply
generic skills that they are going to learn and teach (Shahrin et al.,
2002).
A study conducted by (Yaacob, 2012) to investigate students and
lecturers’ perspective on integrating of generic competencies into
compulsory courses in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Compulsory
courses were Islamic and Asian Civilizations (TITAS and Ethnic Relation,
moreover, the issues related to integration of generic competency such
as operational context, integration ability, and assessment mechanism
were measured. Yaacob (2012) aimed to identify whether generic
competencies were ‘naturally occurring’ within the current course
programs, and whether any methods can be developed to record and assess
explicitly those competencies. He also examined to what extent
individual lecturers can integrate these competencies into the courses
throughout the planning, implementing, and assessing phases. Moreover,
Yaacob (2012) aimed to examine the proper operational context in which
the generic competencies are expected to develop and to investigate the
proper instrument to evaluate students’ development in generic
competencies. The researcher distributed a survey among 2,500 students
and 22 lecturers who taught compulsory courses. To compare the
lecturers’ and students’ perspective towards integration of generic
competencies, frequency analysis was employed (Yacob, Kadir, Zainudin,
& Zurairah, 2012).
The findings revealed that both lecturers and students approved that
methods of recording generic competencies and its assessment can be
developed. Though, lecturers maintained that integrating generic
competencies are less likely to be incorporated into compulsory courses
and those competencies are not ‘naturally occurring’ within the current
courses. Besides, they believe that UKM has not appropriately provided
operational context for developing generic competencies. They opposed to
the statement that lecturers can identify the appropriate mechanism to
evaluate student’s generic competencies. Contrary to the lecturers’
viewpoint, it was surprising to report that students had strong attitude
towards integrating generic competencies into compulsory courses.
In another study, Pradeep Kumar Nair Deputy Vice-Chancellor reported
that Taylor’s University recognized the need to change its curriculum
framework. Taylor’s University has introduced a New Curriculum
Framework (NCF) in terms of design, delivery, assessment and outcomes
to address the emerging challenges in higher education and more
effectively engage and educate the millennial and post millennial
generation of learners (Ali, Zhou, Hussain, Nair, & Ragavan, 2016).
The NCF will integrate the essential employability skills into Taylor’s
degree programs to assist students to succeed in the emerging global
landscape. This is to meet growing demands for a more job-relevant
curriculum and a work-ready, resilient and intentional graduate via the
balanced and wholesome “integration of science and arts” into the
curriculum (incorporated via nurturing both hemispheres of the brain).
Thus, learners will be equipped with future work skills and abilities
required across different jobs and work settings, that is, to develop
and showcase the most critical 21st century skills.
These will be encapsulated in the revised Taylor’s Graduate Capabilities
encompassing foundational literacies, competencies and character
qualities to support the development of future ready graduates. This
university offer the NCF for degree program to enhance the employability
of learners by integrating the essential 21st century
employability skills into curriculum, being adaptive to changing trends
in learning, society, and aligning a constructive curriculum design,
delivery, assessment and outcomes. Taylor’s University has redesigned
its curriculum to fit the learners of the future.
The NCF involves significant changes in how the University operates,
higher education is delivered, as well as a change in culture and
mind-sets. Under the NCF, learning is designed on the basis of
personalized learning, immersive and problem-centered, international
experience, and outcome-based assessment, entrepreneurial journey,
flexible learning, and life skills development, self-management and
relationship management. Kumar Nair 2018 (Ali et al., 2016) maintained
that constructive alignment plays important role in designing and
assessing curriculum for teaching and learning to achieve its
objectives. Taylor’s university developed the following eight principles
to design the curriculum: