Malaysian students’ level of generic skill in teaching and learning process: A case study of Mara Skills Institute students, Johor Baharu

Skill building is absolutely vital for human capital development in a fast developing country such as Malaysia. Five of these crucial generic skills are communication, leadership, teamwork, problem-solving, and professionalism. This study aims to identify the level of generic skills in the process of teaching and learning acquired by Johor Baharu’s MARA Skills Institute students. Primary data were gathered from questionnaires completed and returned by 300 students in various engineering degree in Public Health, Johor Baharu, and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). The results showed that the levels of generic skills were generally high where the overall mean for teamwork skills was 4.08, communication 4.06, leadership 4.05, problem solving 4.05 and professionalism 4.03. However, results of the t-tests showed no significant difference in gender-based employability skills for students. The findings contribute to MARA Skills Institutes’ effort in identifying level of generic skills that should be further enhanced by diversifying students - oriented ways of teaching and learning.