@article{scholars3162,
           title = {The place of soft skills in the development of hard sciences: The Malaysian higher education scenario},
             doi = {10.18848/1447-9508/CGP/v09i10/43348},
          volume = {9},
            note = {cited By 2},
          number = {10},
           pages = {97--110},
         journal = {International Journal of the Humanities},
       publisher = {Common Ground Research Networks},
            year = {2012},
             url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84867226669&doi=10.18848\%2f1447-9508\%2fCGP\%2fv09i10\%2f43348&partnerID=40&md5=d90a5a8c2e2d03382519e54b6931c2ea},
        abstract = {In today's society and in the future soft skills are becoming more important. The importance of soft skills has been acknowledged in most occupations and many organizations make selection and performance evaluation decisions based in part on employees' soft skills. As such, the requirement for soft skills in all jobs is crucial as they measure the traits that are crucial to the marketability of the graduates. For technically based occupations like engineering, soft skills are also very important for the engineers to apply their technical knowledge at work effectively. The purpose of this paper therefore, is to demonstrate the importance of soft skills to be embedded in the teaching and learning process of hard sciences in Malaysian higher institutions. Information was gathered through a literature review. One of the weak points identified among Malaysian graduates is that they lack the soft skills which are required by the industry, which has lead to the problem of unemployability. This paper discusses the place of soft skills in engineering in the context of higher institutions in Malaysia. It also discusses the initiatives taken by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysian Council of Engineering Deans, Institution of Engineers Malaysia, and Malaysian universities, particularly the engineering faculties, to produce engineering graduates with high proficiency both in technical and non-technical (soft skills) areas, in realizing the importance of producing engineers who are employable and marketable. The paper concludes with highlighting some of the challenges faced by the higher institutions in implementing soft skills. {\^A}{\copyright} Common Ground, Hairuzila Idrus, Hazadiah Mohd Dahan, Normah Abdullah, All Rights Reserved.},
            issn = {14479508},
          author = {Idrus, H. and Dahan, H. M. and Abdullah, N.}
}