Contents
What transferable skills should students develop during their time at university? 1
1. Introduction 1
2. Research Objectives 1
3. Summary of Findings 2
4. Commentary on findings 2
Oral Communication 2
Fluency in a Second Language 3
Presentation skills and time management 3
Skills considered of least importance 3
5. Recommendations 3
What transferable skills should students develop during their time at university?
1. Introduction
Transferable skills can be described as ‘skills developed in one situation which can be transferred to another situation’ e.g. problem-solving, decision-making, or communication skills. These skills are also known as ‘soft skills’, ‘key skills’ or ‘generic skills’ and are essential in all areas of life, not just in learning or work situations. In recent years Higher Education institutions have begun to identify particular transferable skills they wish their own graduates to develop during their time in third-level education.

However, an essential part of identifying important skills for students to develop is to seek the opinions of students themselves. The focus of this HEA-funded project is on modern language students. Hence this survey was conducted with this student cohort only, rather than with a cross-section of the student body. Most surveys undertaken to ascertain students’ opinions on the important transferable skills for them to develop, have been surveys of diverse student populations. It is interesting to note that the results of these surveys have been quite similar across different student groups. By far the most common skills that have been identified by students as being important for their careers have been communication skills (both oral and written), followed by teamwork, time management, and decision-making. These results have been borne out by the findings of our own research. The findings presented in this report go some way towards gaining an insight into what transferable skills Irish modern language students believe will be important to them in their careers. The report also presents some recommendations in light of its findings. These findings will ultimately be combined with findings from research with the other stakeholder groups involved in the third-level education process (academic staff, graduates and employers) in order to present a more comprehensive picture of how transferable skills fit into the third-level education system in Ireland.

2. Research Objectives
The main objectives of this research were:
a) To identify which transferable skills modern language students believe will be important to them in their career after university; and
b) To ascertain modern language students’ perception of their own level of proficiency in each skill.
Other objectives included:
c) To learn modern language students’ opinion of what factors they feel are important to both securing a job and further study; and
d) To identify why the students chose their particular courses and to ascertain to what extent they expect to use their language skills after graduation.
The research consisted of a personally administered survey to modern language students, of all years, in the three institutions involved in this research. The results presented in this report reflect the opinions of modern language students in general, with only minor institutional differences having been observed. transferable skills were identified which may be considered important to graduates in their careers after university.

3. Summary of Findings
The following are some of the main findings from this research. Modern language students: Recognise the greater importance of their enthusiasm and personality when applying for a job, above factors such as a good academic record or work experience. Recognise the importance of transferable skills, the majority agreeing that they are more important than specialist knowledge. Most students have considered the importance of these skills by the first or second year in university, although approximately 20% do not think about them until late in their university career, if at all. Are more or less equally divided on whether transferable skills should be learnt on the job or in university, but most students believe that personality plays an important role in the ability to acquire such skills. Believe that oral communication, time management and written communication will be particularly important skills for a future career. Recognised as being of slightly less importance are presentation skills, management of one’s own learning, fluency in a second language, and decision making. Consider team work and problem solving of only average importance. Customer service, leadership, networking and numeracy were considered unimportant in a future career. Believe themselves to be very proficient at oral and written communication, team work, IT and research skills. They recognise that they are not particularly proficient at time management and show some concern about the proficiency of their presentation skills, decision making, fluency in a second language and their ability to manage their own learning. Report that in the past they have predominantly developed transferable skills through various kinds of work experience, travel and class presentations. Clubs, societies and sports and specific transferable skills courses were also mentioned. Almost 80% of the sample expects to use their second language as a primary skill after graduation. When asked for further comments the most common response was that language programmes should place more emphasis and value on oral communication.

4. Commentary on findings
The findings from this research appear to indicate that on the whole, modern language students have a strong level of awareness of the importance of transferable skills and have clear opinions as to their level of proficiency in these skills and how these skills are developed. However, a number of the findings are worthy of additional comment here.

Oral Communication
This skill is considered of the highest importance to their careers by modern language students. It is also the skill at which they consider themselves most proficient. However despite this, many of the respondents still commented that a greater emphasis should be placed on oral communication in language programmes and that a greater weighting of marks should go towards oral examinations. Therefore, perhaps this skill could be considered together with the skill of fluency in a second language. Of note is the students’ concern with their level of proficiency in a second language (rated as of low proficiency) and so perhaps it is in this context that the request for greater emphasis on oral communication should be taken i.e. oral communication in a second language.

Fluency in a Second Language
This skill is considered of above average importance for a career after university (although ranked low in terms of proficiency). However, this is obviously influenced by the fact that this is a survey of modern language students for whom this skill is their “raison d’être”, combined with the fact that 80% of respondents expect to use their language skills as a primary skill in employment after graduation. Nonetheless, it is interesting to note that the students attach greater importance to more general transferable skills such as oral and written communication, time management and presentation skills than they do to fluency in a second language, appearing to recognise the value of these general skills over and above the primary skill being learned through their degree programmes.

Presentation skills and time management
Students raised concerns about both of these skills and many even went so far as to comment specifically on presentation skills. Both of these skills are considered of high importance by the respondents to their careers, yet most consider their proficiency in them to be average, at best. Students’ concern about their lack of proficiency may indicate a need for creating a more explicit awareness of when and how these skills are developed and perhaps the need for more formal development of these skills.

Skills considered of least importance
Customer service, leadership, networking and numeracy all appear to be considered of least importance by modern language students. With the exception of customer service, these are also the skills in which the students consider themselves to be least proficient. These skills can be classified as “interpersonal” type skills and it is interesting that language students, whose learning focuses on communication abilities, should consider these skills unimportant. Alternatively however, these skills could be perceived by students as “business-oriented” skills and modern language students on the whole perhaps do not consider their learning as being applicable to commercial activities. We stated in the foreword of this report that modern language students tend to be less confident on graduation about how they fit into the world of work compared to some of their more vocationally-oriented colleagues. Their responses to the importance and proficiency level of these skills could possibly be interpreted as further evidence of this perception. It is recommended that the findings in this report be considered in light of some of the issues raised above. It is important also to bear in mind that the students surveyed for this report were modern language students exclusively. A more wide-ranging study of student perceptions would provide more conclusive evidence of the importance and proficiency of transferable skills (for example surveying students studying a wider variety of courses) but nonetheless these findings go a significant way towards endorsing the value of developing transferable skills in third-level education.

5. Recommendations
Based exclusively on the findings of this research the following are some recommendations for Careers Services and academic staff of third-level institutions.
Given that 20% of modern language students do not consider the importance of transferable skills until their final year in university, this highlights a need for awarenessraising of these skills to actively take place from the moment of entry to third-level education. Careers Services, academic staff and other support services could all participate in this awareness-raising and provide opportunities for students to reflect upon, develop and use transferable skills in the course of their learning. This would allow all students equal opportunity to participate in the development of their own skills. • More opportunities for communicating orally through the languages being studied could be provided in modern language courses and a greater emphasis placed on awarding marks or credits for oral communication in the relevant language(s). Increased opportunities could also be provided for students to develop presentation and time management skills in their academic studies, through both formal instruction and assessment methods.
Given the very low ranking of proficiency in career management skills, and also the students’ general lack of clarity about their career direction which has been experienced up to now, Careers Services should ensure that career management skills form an integral part of their third-level education. This need for career management skills is also highlighted by the fact that some of the skills which the students considered unimportant are the more “commercial” skills which are required in any type of employment. This indicates a need to educate modern language students in the types of work roles open to them after graduation and the skills required in these roles. Given the time and workload pressures of both academic staff and students, integration of career management skills into the curriculum rather than add-on courses would be the recommended option for doing this.
Where possible, third-level institutions should continue to provide work experience or study abroad opportunities for modern language students, as these experiences appear to be highly valued by the students as a means of developing transferable skills.
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