University Education: A Foundation for Lifelong Skills Development

Introduction

Acquiring skills at a university level which will be used later in life is a skill is a very important function of university life. It is basis on which all later technical and non-technical skills are developed in life, later on. Gunn et al (2011) reiterate the importance of acquiring academic skills at the university level, they elucidate that the integrated approach to education and embedding educational techniques which are easily adaptable is the method through which an individual can acquire lasting skills at university level.

The following document will discuss three skills that I have acquired while at university and how I feel these skills will help me later in my further education and my career. The three skills this document will be discussing are time management skills, teamwork skills and academic reading skills.

Skills Analysis

The three skills that will be discussed in this section will be time management skills, team management and academic reading skills. These skills will be discussed on the basis of theories, methods of usage and comparisons.

Time Management

Time management is an essential skill that every professional should posses and the knowledge of it needs to be acquired at a university level. Time management is understood as a valuable resource, the usage of which allows the individual to effectively finish their tasks in the stipulated time frame (Rapp et al, 2013). It is an important skill for a student as time management as it is a skill which effectively buffers the negative effect of workflow interruptions, which is a pertinent problem for students (Ma et al, 2020).

At present, I feel fairly confident about my time management skills as I go by a timetable, which I have constructed to be flexible and all encompassing. In the future, I hope to develop my skills further and I intend to do that by adopting the Pomodoro Technique, developed by Cirillo (2018), where an individual sets a timer for 25 minutes to finish a task and then aims to finish the task in that stipulated time frame.

Teamwork Skills

Another important skill to be learned is how to be a good team player and be efficient in groups. Teamwork is essential as no individual works in isolation, whether academically or professionally. Galeghar and Kraut (2014) understand teamwork as something that individuals do in cooperation with one another and elucidate that almost all kinds of work is cooperative in nature and needs collaboration by other individuals.

I feel my teamwork skills are the best skills I’ve acquired during my university years and they serve me well when I have to collaborate with my classmates on projects. I am planning to further my teamwork skills more by volunteering and playing sports like football and hockey.

Academic Reading Skills

Hermida (2009) understands academic reading as reading which approaches the subject matter deeply and critically, where the reader would intimately grasp what the author was trying to put across and think meta-cognitively about the material they’ve read. In order to improve academic reading, problem-solving techniques need to be applied and in order to read academic texts more easily, one can preview it before reading.

This is a skill which is especially important for a student as they need to be able to develop to retain knowledge and develop critical thinking skills. Students can understand gaps in literature better and produce superior quality work if they read academically. I am moderately confident in this skill and I feel I need more practice in reading academically. For that purpose, I want to approach my reading materials with a critical eye while reading. Additionally, I want to read more non-fiction books in order to develop this skill.

Conclusion

The three skills which I feel I am most adept at, which I have acquired during my academic years are teamwork, time management and academic reading. Through effective teamwork, I’ve learnt how to collaborate to mutual benefit with my classmates. I am confident this skill will serve me during my professional years and also lend me leadership privileges. The skill of time management is essential for anyone working with deadlines. Academic reading is the method through which I can understand intimately what I am reading and how I can improve myself as a student.

Even though I feel most confident in displaying these three skills, I want to become adept at more skills like organisational skills and presenting effectively, in the duration of my university study.

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Bibliography

Gunn, C., Hearne, S. and Sibthorpe, J., 2011. Right from the start: A rationale for embedding academic literacy skills in university courses. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 8(1), p.6.

Rapp, A.A., Bachrach, D.G. and Rapp, T.L., 2013. The influence of time management skill on the curvilinear relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and task performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(4), p.668.

Ma, J.Y., Kerulis, A.M., Wang, Y. and Sachdev, A.R., 2020. Are workflow interruptions a hindrance stressor? The moderating effect of time-management skill. International Journal of Stress Management, 27(3), p.252.

Cirillo, F., 2018. The Pomodoro technique: The life-changing time-management system. Random House.

Hermida, D., 2009. The importance of teaching academic reading skills in first-year university courses. Available at SSRN 1419247.