The Impact Of Teamwork Skills On Students In Malaysian Public Universities

Teamwork is an essential soft skills that need to be applied to every student in the national education institutions. The application of these skills is in line with the government's plan in the National Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015-2025 which aims at producing a holistic graduate who could be characterized by an entrepreneurship and balanced process of education. This study aims to identify the impact of teamwork in the process of teaching and learning in the compulsory subjects in the Malaysian Public Universities. This study employed a quantitative method through a survey using questionnaires. A total of 424 respondents were randomly selected to make comparisons between the two public universities, namely Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) and the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) which are consisting of various ethnic groups, religions and field of study. Results showed a positive impact of teamwork skills on student's in the process of teaching and learning in both public universities. The teamwork skills could help to enhance the added-values on students, build their self-confidence and help to improve their communication skills and interaction with the others. In addition, the study also showed that the implication of teamwork skills on the students could expose and help them to develop critical and creative thinking to solve problems related to their tasks and improve the quality of learning process. In conclusion, this study suggests that the implementation of teamwork skills should be included together with the other prescribed soft skills with varied learned-centred activities.