Soft Skills in Knowledge-Based Economics

Abstract

This paper summarizes the main arguments within the scientific discussion on the issue of the soft skills in knowledge-based economies. The main purpose of this research is to reflect on the role of Higher Education Institutions in the training of soft skills, as well as to improve the academic curriculum. This subject appears as a consequence of some inadaptability of the graduate students to the working market as referred by employers. This work pretends to draw attention to other teaching-learning methodologies, based on holistic learning and multiple intelligences, where the emotional, social and civic skills are underlined. The starting point is the following question: ``which are the distinctive and competitive skills in a knowledge-based society?{''} and its objectives are: to reflect on intangible dynamic skills, contrasting them to traditional skills, which are mainly based on technical and scientific domains. Therefore, the academic curriculum should be focused on learning to learn and learning to unlearn. According to the literature and the organizations' desires, this is strategic in a based knowledge economy, because learning should be interactive, cognitive, emotive, relational, emotional and evolutionary. Currently, individuals require a skills pack that combines technical-scientific skills with those which support instrumentals, such as social and emotional skills. The latest is the additive with multiplicative properties of professional and social performance and which facilitate the consolidation of both intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. However, as the emotional and social aspects have not been enhanced in higher education curriculum projects, the present study aims to identify frailties in graduate students regarding distinctive skills in a knowledge-based society. The methodological tools of the research are based on the literature review, and on some developed works on the subject. According to this purpose, we pretend to underline the need towards the superior academic curriculum in order to decrease the existing gap between the technical and soft skills and on the other hand to improve the workers' performance. This work also reflects on the skills available on offer at higher education, with the aim to identify relational, social and emotional skills in graduate students. The results of the research can be useful for society in general, because it allows improving values such as attitudes, behaviours, relationships, engagement, ethics, responsibility, performance, among others.