How Can Colleges Effectively Teach Soft Skills in Just 50 Minutes? Let's Share Ideas

Hello friends,

Now, we can see that universities like JNTU and AU have included soft skills in engineering colleges. This is a clear indication that academia is interested in ensuring that students who graduate should be fully conversant with the requisite employability skills. Over the last two to three years, the industry has supported this idea and offered training to various faculties of these colleges under different programs.

The challenge now is how to impart this training to the students within the confines of a classroom and a 50-minute period. Can they distinguish between teaching and training? How effective will it be? Let's share ideas.

No effort with the right intention ever goes to waste. I have been conducting bridge training and workshops in Hyderabad for college students for over 4 years and feel that it does make a difference. The bridge programs are not to glorify the corporate world but to introduce the students to the facts there. These programs are effective if they are conducted in an activity-based manner compared to the lecture methodology followed in the institutions. This helps the students understand, retain, and apply the concepts better. One odd training session will not make as much of a difference as a series of sessions and workshops with a common goal spread over the entire academic session.

Regards,

Rajni Gopal

Cucumber Consultants
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It's a good thing that universities have realized the importance of soft skills and decided to impart the same to their students. However, the institutions must understand that soft skills training is altogether a different ball game and should not be viewed as just another faculty taking a class. The onus lies on the trainer to distinguish himself from the regular faculty. He has to adopt a different methodology.

Purposes of Soft Skills Training

Soft skills training should have three purposes. First, awareness; then exposure; and most importantly, the institution should not focus on grading. Soft skills are basically personality traits and involve a shift in thinking and perception. This does not happen easily, as students in many colleges come from a vernacular background. Secondly, a student will not understand the concept very easily, as these skills appear difficult to learn because they are activity-based. Being shy and hesitant, a student cannot come out of their shell so easily.

Regards,

K. Ashwin