The improvement of students’ soft skills through coaching in academic and non-academic activities needs to be optimized in higher education institutions. However, in reality, soft skills only account for 10%, while hard skills account for 90%.
What needs to be re-examined is the greater use of soft skills as a university innovation in shaping the image of students to be more optimal in their output. Society demands that higher education prepare students to be well-rounded individuals. Higher education institutions should not only prepare students with hard skills, but also prepare them with personal and interpersonal soft skills.
Improving students’ soft skills also aims to increase the competitiveness of graduates, both nationally and internationally. In addition, soft skills training is also used to improve the character of graduates. Hard skills are technical and academic competencies in accordance with science and profession. Meanwhile, soft skills are abilities beyond technical, academic, and professional abilities that refer to interpersonal abilities that are spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally intelligent. (source: https://mrizqiariadi.wordpress.com)
In higher education, lecturers play a very important role in shaping students’ character. The dominant factor in these two areas is hard skills, while the underlying factor that plays a significant role is soft skills, which are often related to human emotions.
