The Students’ Perception of Their Soft Skills in Serbia

Agneš Slavić – Faculty of Economics in Subotica, University in Novi Sad, Segedinski put 9-11, 24000 Subotica, Serbia

Maja Strugar Jelača – Faculty of Economics in Subotica, University in Novi Sad, Segedinski put 9-11, 24000 Subotica, Serbia

Nemanja Berber – Faculty of Economics in Subotica, University in Novi Sad, Segedinski put 9-11, 24000 Subotica, Serbia

Abstract: Today, in the dynamic business context, graduates have to be ready to deal with various business problems where different alternative solutions can be brought, but only one is optimal. It requires a set of competencies and soft skills such as critical and strategic thinking, problem-solving, communi­cation and flexibility. The described situation mostly gives priority to various soft skills in relation to hard skills, i.e. professional knowledge acquired during the studies. The purpose of this research is to shed light on how soft skills are taught at the moment and how they should be taught in the future to prepare new employees to easily get their first job and reduce the rate of youth unem­ployment. This research aims to analyze how curricula at business universities prepare their students for the new demands of the labor market. For this aim, survey-based empirical research was realized on the student’s perception of the importance of soft skills in the sample of 245 students of the Faculty of Eco­nomics in Subotica, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Using Spearman’s correla­tion, it was determined that there is a statistically significant negative relation­ship between the student’s work experience during their studies and their per­ception of the studies preparing them for the new demands on the labor mar­ket. Therefore, students without work experience believe that their previous education has prepared them for the new demands of the employers, while students with work experience conclude that the competences acquired so far have not sufficiently prepared them for the new demands of the labor mar­ket. Today, it is more than necessary for students to acquire adequate skills be­yond academic or professional knowledge. It is recommended to incorporate soft skills training into the hard skills courses in order.

LIMEN Conference

9th International Scientific-Business Conference – LIMEN 2023 – Leadership, Innovation, Management and Economics: Integrated Politics of Research – CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, Hybrid (Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria), December 7, 2023

LIMEN Conference Proceedings published by the Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans, Belgrade, Serbia

LIMEN Conference 2023 Conference Proceedings: ISBN 978-86-80194-78-3, ISSN 2683-6149, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/LIMEN.2023

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission. 

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