Gulf News Edufair: Students need to develop soft skills, say experts

Gulf News Edufair: Students need to develop soft skills, say experts

Dubai: Empowering students with soft skills for future job market is the need of the hour for universities, a panel of educators said at the Gulf News Edufair on Friday. Speaking at the event, Anil Ahluwalia, Academic Head, DeMont Institute of Management and Technology, said change is happening exponentially. “Educators need to keep pace with the change and education has to keep up with technology as this will create a seamless integration between the stakeholders. More emphasis will be on cognitive skills, critical thinking skills. Today students do not need just the hard skills but the soft skills as well,” added Ahluwalia. Prof Dr Elango Rengasamy, Professor of Finance and Associate Dean, Global Business Studies (GBS) Dubai echoed the analysis. “As educators we have to make an introspection of ourselves as institutions. We need to ask if we are delivering the right skills, the right competencies and knowledge to the students so that when they are ready for the next phase of their lives – which is finding a job.” “It is very essential for students to not only have the academic skills, but the soft skills as well. For instance, skills such as communication, complex problem solving, research, interpersonal