Earticle

Young people entering into colleges or universities commonly experience stress such as academic expectations, independent living away from home, uncertainties about future careers and difficulties in forming relationships. A recent national survey in Malaysia showed that one in five teenagers are suffering from depression (18.3%), two in five anxiety (39.7%), and one in ten stress (9.6%). In the past decade, the number of suicide or attempted suicide among college and university students have been increasing at an alarming rate. Besides mental health issues, there are serious concerns on the high unemployment among Malaysian graduates. Of the 250,000 students who graduate annually, one in five are unemployed with 35% being degree holders. The top three reasons identified by employers are lack of proficiency in English, lack of skillsets and lack of soft skills. These concerns highlight the need to equip students with soft skills to understand themselves and to relate to the world around them. Taylor’s University embodies holistic education with its core purpose “To educate the youth of the world to take their productive place as leaders in a global community”. Recognizing these gaps, the university has transformed its curriculum in 2018 by incorporating Life Skills modules which are based on Emotional Intelligence to all its first-year undergraduates. It aims to develop students’ personal and social competencies to help them navigate successfully in a world described as volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). Students are guided by Life Skills facilitators through self-discovery process and collaborative activities using Experiential Learning pedagogy. In the two semesters of 2018, a total of 2,036 first-year Degree students had completed the programme with 87% of the students stating that they found the programme beneficial. In a separate cohort of 90 scholars, 48% of the students expressed an increase in confidence in regulating their emotions, 22% expressed an increase in their ability to adapt culturally and 26% expressed an increase as a confident communicator. The findings and commentaries from students support the benefits of Emotional Intelligence which helps students in managing their emotions, their academic tasks and develop healthy relationships.