Skills for Higher Education Students: Importance and Development

This reflective report discusses the importance of skills for higher education students such as communication, academic writing, team working, presentation, problem solving and decision making skills. It also highlights the ways to develop these skills for personal and professional growth.

Reflective Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Skills for Higher Education Student................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The report is based on the skills which is required to higher education students. It is a
reflective report which identifies and describe the skills and its importance in higher education.
There are various skills which is required by student in higher education such as academic
writing skills, presentation skills, communication skills, IT skills, effective team working skills,
problem solving and decision making skills (Kruss, Wildschut and Petersen, 2019). Through
these skills student can improve their personal as well as professional career.
Skills for Higher Education Student
The Students must focus on improving the skills and knowledge in order to survive in
competitive environment. There are several skills which must be identified and improve by
higher education learner such as communication skills, academic writing skills, presentation
skills, team working skills and problem solving skills. The Skills are important for students as it
helps in finding the new ways for thinking and also increases their adaptability. By learning new
skills students can improve professional career and achieve their goals. There are few factors
which are important for students to get success including academic preparedness, decision
making ability, family support and skills (Whalen and Paez, 2021). Through skills higher
education students can engage in an interaction with other people and achieve their dream job.
The Skills helps in understanding the concept and also students can safeguard their future. The
few skills which are important for higher education students are as follows:
Communication Skills is one the skill which is required by students in higher education.
The skills helps in gaining academic success and also increase the ability of individual to
communicate effectively. Through communication sill students can understand the information
quickly and accurately (Al-Sarmi, Al-Hemyari and Salamn, 2015). The poor communication
skills creates misunderstanding and frustration among individual. Effective communication skills
helps in developing relationship with others and also students can give valuable information. My
communication skill is strong as I can easily communicate and interact with other people.
Through effective communication skills I could deliver the message and information in clear
manner. I have a clarity in my ideas that helps me to exchange information among various other
students in class.

Academic writing skills is another skills which is needed by higher education students.
An individual must focus on improving their academic writing skills in order to express the
thoughts confidently and use wide vocabulary while writing. It is a technique of communication
which helps in acquiring skills and knowledge in particular field of study. The academic writing
skills helps in increasing the career opportunities and improves concentration and productivity
level of an individual. My academic writing skills is not so good as I face many problem while
assembling the useful words and frame the proper sentence. I'm focusing on improving my
academic writing skills by writing on a particular topic as much as I can and also using
proofreading resources for writing in an effective manner.
Effective team working skills is also a skill which is required by students in higher
education as it helps in boosting the creativity and engagement level of students in class and
corporate world (Roepen, 2015). Through effective team working skills students can collectively
work with each other and share their ideas and opinions in group. The team working helps in
fostering learning and creativity and also the task can be break into small parts. I believe in team
working due to which my team working skills is good. I know how to work in group and build
healthy relations with other students and teachers. Working in team helps in building trust and
establishes a strong connection with other people that can endure minor issues in university and
workplace.
Presentation skills is other skill which is important for students in higher education.
Through having effective presentation skills students can deliver and engage audience while
presenting their slides. The presentation skills helps in creating innovative ideas by producing
interesting and creative slides to communicate their task. My presentation skill is not so effective
as I face problem while creating a slide that defines the meaningful content. I also face
challenges while explaining my slides and cannot focus on audience in proper manner. My main
aim is to improve presentation skills as it helps in attracting the audience and also I can design
the slides by adding voice and graphic. I am focusing on limiting my presentation to one core
idea and keeping my content simple so that it could be understood by audience.
Problem solving and Decision making skill is also an effective skill which is required
in higher education students. The problem solving skills helps in solving the issues in effective
way without any impediments. Through having problem solving skills students can identify and
define the issues and also they can generate the solutions by taking best alternative. The student

can grab new knowledge by facing issues to be solved. Decision making skills is one of the
important skill which must be in higher education students. The skill helps in increasing the
value of students in their future job and communities (Cloete, 2018). My problem solving and
decision making skills are strong I can make effective decision for the betterment of my future.
The strong decision making and problem solving skills helps in solving the problem and finding
the possible solution that gains greatest amount of satisfaction.
CONCLUSION
It is being concluded from the above information it is being identified that students must
also focus on other skills that can help in gaining success in professional as well as personal life.
Students also focuses on developing these skills by identifying skill gaps and determining the
ability to execute the plan for getting success. The skills can be developed by performing self
analysis and finding the areas which need improvement. Students can focus on transferable skills
that helps to make competitive candidate in university and job.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Al-Sarmi, A. M., Al-Hemyari, Z. A. and Salamn, F. A., 2015. Enhancing students’ skills of
higher education: methodology, statistical analyses and survey outcomes. International
Journal of Information and Decision Sciences. 7(1). pp.71-98.
Cloete, M., 2018. The impact of an integrated assessment on the critical thinking skills of first-
year university students. Accounting Education. 27(5). pp.479-494.
Kruss, G., Wildschut, A. and Petersen, I. H., 2019. Skills for the future: new research
perspectives.
Roepen, D., 2015. Business graduate perceptions of the development and application of non-
technical skills within higher education and the workforce.
Whalen, K. and Paez, A., 2021. Student perceptions of reflection and the acquisition of higher-
order thinking skills in a university sustainability course. Journal of Geography in
Higher Education. 45(1). pp.108-127.