Exploring Graduate Students' Soft Skills Development at a Vietnamese German University

• In Event: 25.068 - Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: 25.068-14 - Career and Technical Education SIG Roundtable Session 1

Abstract

As Vietnam struggles to meet the needs of a more globalized economy, universities play a significant role in developing new workforce skills. Higher education institutions in Vietnam have a critical role in developing necessary soft skills such as effective communication and critical thinking in their graduates. This paper aims to explore how graduate students at Vietnamese-German University (VGU), a collaborative transnational university, describe their soft skill development and how soft skills contribute to their career goals. We seek to understand how graduate students at VGU, predominantly an engineering and technology university, prioritize their soft skills development in coursework. In this paper, we examine how VGU promotes effective learning by developing participants’ interpersonal relationships and fostering independent skills.

Authors

• Christina Yao, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Minerva Dotollo-Tuliao, University of Nebraska - Lincoln