Challenges Faced by Students in University and Development of Skills: A Personal Development Plan

This report discusses the challenges faced by students in university such as apprentice, presentation and T-shirt challenges. It covers the skills developed while facing the challenges such as communication, team work, time management and business skills. At the end, it includes a detailed personal development plan to improve future performance efficiently.

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Challenges...............................................................................................................................................3
Skills........................................................................................................................................................5
Personal development plan......................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
In the present era, there are ample of challenges faced by students during academics.
Some challenges such as apprentice, presentation and T-shirt challenges are majorly faced by
students which prepare them for future obstacles. In addition to this, these challenges develop
business acumen and prove helpful in getting success in future period of time. It is possible to
face such challenges with the help of suitable skills and capabilities (Click, 2018). Main aim of
present report is to identify challenges face by student while studying in the university. It will
cover the skills developed while facing the challenges. At end, it will include a detailed personal
development plan to improve the future performance efficiently.
Challenges
Apprentice Challenge: Apprentices challenge is related to improve interpersonal skills
of student. It aims to inspire students to come ahead with unique and creative ideas. During this
challenge, one has great opportunity to work on different skills in order to ensure success in
future period of time. Additionally, this challenge helps to develop skills such as time
management, communication and more which are important to work in a company (Sandri,
Holdsworth and Thomas, 2018). During the apprentice challenge, I work with a team including
different individuals. Here, I faced challenge in interaction of other individuals. In addition to
this, interacting with different individuals was also a great challenge for me. I also faced
challenge of lack of business related skills which affect my performance during apprentice.
Further, challenge related to time management was also faced by me while completing the
apprentice.
Presentation challenge: It is a major challenge which is often faced by student, Here,
one feels hesitated while delivering presentation. In addition to this, preparation of effective
presentation is also a major presentation challenge. Sometimes, individual get panic while
delivering presentation in front of huge crowd. In business, there is requirement to deliver
presentations in order to represent the business information. I faced challenge in delivering
presentation due to fear of public speaking. I get nervous while addressing huge number of
audience. In addition to this, I also face challenge related to voice, pitch and tone. In
nervousness, I start to fumble which create constraints in delivering effective presentation. Due

to this, I found it challenging to address the queries of audience which is a crucial part of
effective presentation delivering.
T-shirt Challenge: This is about using T-shirts for the purpose of promotion and
branding. Here, T-shirts are used to formulate positive brand image of the organization among
customers. In this context, logos are made on T-shirts and then it is used for the purpose of
promotion (Bawa and Watson, 2017). Main aim of this is to spread awareness about the brand so
that maximum numbers of people get to know about the brand. It needs creativity, unique mind
set and innovative approach to gain attention of viewers. I faced challenge while completing this
activity at university. I found myself unable to prepare unique and creative logo which is
important to make the T-shirt campaign successful. Lack of innovative mindset also crated
challenges for me while performing T-shirt challenge.

Skills
The above mentioned challenges are often faced by students. However, I was able to face
the challenges effectively with the use of my skills and abilities. In this context, my skills are
mentioned as under:
Communication Skills: Communication is the way in which two or more people
exchange information with each-other. In current time, communication skills are important in
order to interact with other people in an impressive way. It has become a crucial requirement to
work in business environment (Suleman, 2018). I was able to meet with the challenges
effectively due to my remarkable communication skills. In addition to this, I met ample of people
during apprentice. I work in a team where I got the opportunity to interact with my team
members. It improved my communication skills at high extend. This skill will help me in getting
success in professional career in future period of time. Additionally, communication skills will
make me able to interact with others in an impressive way which will help me in getting
promotion at work place.
Team work: Team work is about working with different people in the same group. Team
work needs a lot of patience, collaboration, empathy and more. In business environment, team
work is considered highly important as it is possible to achieve milestones through team work. It
brings collaboration and enhances the synergy by combining the skills, capabilities of different
people (Succi and Canovi, 2020). In my case, I developed team management skills during
apprentice challenge. Here, I worked with a group, including people from different culture,
religion, personality and more. I got opportunity to learn from them which will help me in future
period of time. I learned how to collaboratively work with people to attain common goals. Also,
T-shirt challenge also provided me opportunity to work in a team during campaign which
enhanced my capabilities to work in a team.
Time management: It refers to the skills of preparing an appropriate schedule to
complete different activities in timely manner. During Apprentice challenge, I used to perform
different activities which improved my capabilities to make effective use of available time.
During presentation challenge, I also develop time management capabilities so that I can prepare
and deliver effective presentation in short period of time. In addition to this, working under strict
schedule during T-shirt challenge also improved my skills to manage time effectively.

Business Skills: It includes the skills such as use of excel, presentation, time
management and more skills (Weybrecht, 2017). These skills are required to work in a business
environment successfully. I learned to use excel during my apprentice. Further, presentation
challenge helped me to learn how to prepare an attractive presentation. In addition to this, T-shirt
challenge made me understand different aspects of branding and promotion. These business
skills will help me in performing my professional roles effectively.
Personal development plan
After going through with the detailed self analysis, I am able to understand the areas in
which I need improvement. In this context, my personal development plan is mentioned below:
Learning
target
Prese
nt
profic
iency
Targ
et
Prof
icien
cy
Development
opportunities
Tactics used for
developing
skills
Criteria for
judging
attainment
Time
perio
d
Communicat
ion skills
7 10 With this skill, I
will be able to
interact with other
people in an
efficient manner. I
can put a positive
impression on my
peers, colleagues
and seniors.
In order to
develop this
skill, I will join
online sessions
and will take
help of some
experienced
people. I will
read the articles,
magazines in
order to
improve my
vocabulary.
Here, I will take
feedback from
my peers and
also take the
assessment. I
will analyze my
performance in
the assessment
in order to
improve my
future
performance in
an efficient
manner
3
mont
hs
Presentation
skills
6 10 This skill will make
me enable to
I will join
sessions on
I will analyze
my performance
6
mont

deliver effective
presentation. It will
help me to prepare
attractive
presentation
including graphs,
statistics and other
suitable
information.
effective
presentation and
will also take
help of my
seniors. I will
read the articles
and blogs on
preparation of
effective
presentation.
through the
attractiveness of
my
presentation. I
will also take
feedback from
the audience so
that I can
improve my
presentation in
future period of
time.
hs
Time
management
6 9 Time management
skill is important in
order to prepare a
proper schedule to
perform different
activities
efficiently. It will
help me in
achieving assigned
targets within set
deadlines.
For improving
time
management
skills, I will
take part in
workshop,
seminars of
time
management. I
will listen to
experience
people and
leaders in order
to understand
their approach
to manage time.
Here, I can
analyze the time
period in which
I will achieve
the set goals. In
addition to this,
I will analyze
my performance
in terms of
accomplishment
of assigned
work in timely
manner.
5
mont
hs
Business
Competency
7 10 By developing
business
competency, I can
I will join the
session on
professional
I will take
initiatives to
perform the task
9
mont
hs

easily progress in
my professional
career. It will
improve my
business skills such
as excel, business
acumen and more.
development.
After analyzing
my weak areas,
I will get enroll
in suitable
online course.
and analyze my
performance
based on the
feedback I
received from
my seniors,
colleagues and
other people.

Conclusion
It is assessed with above-mentioned information that students go through with ample of
challenge while studying in the university. It is concluded that I faced apprentice, T-shirt and
presentation challenge during academics. These challenges developed competencies such as
communication, time management, business skills and team work. Further, personal
development plan will help me in developing appropriate skills for further improvement.

References
Books and journals
Bawa, P. and Watson, S.L., 2017. A phenomenological study of graduate Chinese students'
English writing challenges. The Qualitative Report, 22(3), p.779.
Click, A.B., 2018. International graduate students in the United States: Research processes and
challenges. Library & Information Science Research, 40(2), pp.153-162.
Oliver, B. and Jorre de St Jorre, T., 2018. Graduate attributes for 2020 and beyond:
Recommendations for Australian higher education providers. Higher Education Research
& Development, 37(4), pp.821-836.
Park, H., Lee, M.J., Choi, G.Y. and Zepernick, J.S., 2017. Challenges and coping strategies of
East Asian graduate students in the United States. International Social Work, 60(3),
pp.733-749.
Sandri, O., Holdsworth, S. and Thomas, I., 2018. Assessing graduate sustainability capability
post-degree completion: Why is it important and what are the challenges?. International
Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.
Succi, C. and Canovi, M., 2020. Soft skills to enhance graduate employability: comparing
students and employers’ perceptions. Studies in Higher Education, 45(9), pp.1834-1847.
Suleman, F., 2018. The employability skills of higher education graduates: insights into
conceptual frameworks and methodological options. Higher Education, 76(2), pp.263-
278.
Weybrecht, G., 2017. From challenge to opportunity–Management education's crucial role in
sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals–An overview and framework. The
International Journal of Management Education, 15(2), pp.84-92.