Figure 1. Key parts of SHINE program are now embedded into the
curriculum
They intend to improve the following generic capabilities namely
discipline specific knowledge, problem solving, critical and creative
thinking, problem solving, critical and creative thinking skills,
lifelong learning, communication, personal competencies, social
competencies, entrepreneurialism, and global perspectives.
Results and Discussion
In the current digital era, the way people work and do business is
strikingly reshaped. Due to fundamental changes in globalization,
technological development, transforming the nature of work considerably
influence the demands of workforce. It has been found 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 which refers to generic competencies. There
are various types of generic competencies namely time management,
teamwork, communication, creativity, and problem-solving, positive
attitudes for instance respect, lifelong learning, consideration, and
appreciation for students’ development. As stated by (NCVER, 2010)
generic skills have six frequent components i.e., basic essential
skills, personal skills, interpersonal skills, thinking skills, skills
which are related to business, and skills associated with community.
(Limbach & Waugh, 2014) have supported the importance of integrating
generic skills through the curriculum and extra curriculum activities.
The results of the systematic review of literature on challenges of
integrating generic competencies in higher education revealed that
generic skills programs provide work-related skills beyond the
disciplinary knowledge. Generic competencies have been developed and
included in the curricula of higher education in different countries
(Cranmer, 2006). However, some university academicians and instructors
do not have awareness and understandings of generic skills development;
therefore, deeper investigations are required to identify challenges and
obstacles of generic skills agenda in developing counties (Goodwin,
2009).
Moreover, drawing on research of generic competencies, there is a strong
relationship between the expansion of learners’ generic competencies and
methods of learning and teaching. Therefore, initially the instructors
are supposed to make sure that students experience a category of
learning experiences; provide opportunities for students’ interaction
such as peer consultation; and develop students’ profiles including
learning experiences (Mayer et al., 2001).
Another finding is the challenge of developing, implementing, and
assessing of generic competencies. Even though, higher education
sometimes has embedded generic competencies into discipline and
curriculum, these skills are seldom assessed as separate learning
outcomes (Rosten & Drummond, 2005), but they are assessed more
holistically in the discipline knowledge. Furthermore, students are less
likely aware of the development of these competencies in the classes
since those capabilities are hidden in curriculum (Hughes & Barrie,
2010).
Due to various natures of generic competencies, the assessment of these
skills might not be rated on scales (Hughes & Barrie, 2010). Another
raised question is related to how students are given credits for
achieving generic competencies (Pitman & Broomhall, 2009). Furthermore,
based on the findings of past studies, it has been revealed that some
teachers perceived that developing students’ generic competencies was
not their responsibility. Teachers are more likely unwilling to take
innovative teaching approaches due to undertaking professional
development (Rosten & Drummond, 2005). They maintained that university
should take action to develop disciplinary knowledge at high education
(Green, Hammer, & Star, 2009). The finding is consistent with the study
conducted in Malaysia by Yaacob, (2012) that 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 with the statement that lecturers can
identify the appropriate mechanism to evaluate student’s generic
competencies. The reason that teachers are reluctant to integrate and
assess generic competencies is that research and publication are
strongly associated with university’s reward systems and job promotion;
hence, research universities give more priority to research activities
than teaching (Rosten & Drummond, 2005).
The findings indicated that in a study conducted in UMT, the
co-curriculum activities were included to enhance generic competencies,
generate holistic, and versatile graduates to increase the graduates’
employability. Therefore, UMT offered different co-curriculum courses or
value added competencies including sport and martial-arts activities,
industrial training, cultural, and leadership activities. 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 along with a range of proper professional attitudes.
In the same vein, Taylor’s University integrated generic competencies in
its new curriculum framework, and implemented those competencies in
vocational courses; however, the assessment of those generic
competencies has not been conducted. Further study needs to be conducted
to investigate lecturers and students’ perceptions of integrating
generic competencies and the assessment of those skills.
Conclusion
The current review study has presented the challenges of developing and
implementing generic competencies in the context of higher education
institutions in general and Malaysian higher education in particular.
The findings indicted that there is a lack of transparency about the
concept of generic competencies, and a lack of consistent teaching
pedagogy on generic competencies and assessment criteria. Hence,
adequate understanding of generic competencies is required to be
developed through establishing a common conceptual base on a generic
competencies agenda. If a conceptual base is built, the potential
challenges of integrating and implementing generic competencies could be
addressed.
The results of revision revealed that institutional support and
commitments should be assigned to increase the awareness of generic
competencies and give more value to these skills to affect teachers’ and
students’ perception. Furthermore, implementing generic competencies
efficiently need enthusiasm and self-motivation of both teachers and
learners. However, due to lack of time teachers maintained that they
fail to teach generic competencies to cover the course subjects at
universities.
Teachers and students perceived that generic competencies play major
role in employability; however, the issue of assessing and giving credit
to generic competencies has not been thoroughly addressed in the context
of higher education. Generic competencies need to be assessed as
disciplinary knowledge through standardized system. Moreover, employers
place a lot of importance on generic competencies because these skills
considerably manifest work-related skills. Therefore, the results of
reliable assessment on generic competencies provide employers with
comprehensive information and graduate work-readiness. Students often
come across to notice the significance of generic competencies or work
skills after graduating from universities (Chan et al., 2017). It worth
mentioning that lecturers should evaluate whether generic competencies
assessments, assess what are supposed to assess. Future research is
definitely required to investigate and develop the appropriate
assessment of generic competencies to guarantee reliable and consistent
interpretation of graduates’ work-related competencies outcomes.
The extensive review of literature in Malaysian higher education
revealed that generic competencies integrated into curriculum; however,
there is no alignment between teaching pedagogy and students’ experience
so as to ensure the implementation of a systematic approach to the
development of generic competencies. Further research should be
conducted to identify the best practices of implementing and assessing
of generic competencies to give teachers’ insight and confidence about
teaching generic competencies. Many research-intensive universities
around the world, have come to realize the lack of work-related skills
or generic competencies among their academicians has deprived their
students of being work-ready graduates since the most students are not
going to continue working in research sector. Therefore, several
universities have hired ‘professor of practice’ who has great deal of
experience and qualifications in industrial sectors in various
disciplines to introduce and implement relevant and well-aligned generic
competencies (Etzkowitz, Mello, Luna, & Campbell, 2014). In a nutshell,
institutions of higher educations should recognize the significance of
developing generic competencies and implement those competencies to
increase the employability of graduates.