HomeSoft skills and university in times of covid-19
Soft skills and university in times of covid-19
« Soft skills » et université en temps de la covid-19
What solutions for what problems?
Quelles solutions pour quelles problématiques ?
Published on Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Summary
The start of the Bachelor in the Moroccan education system highlights for the first time the teaching of Soft Skills. These represent a new transdisciplinary problem and a new pedagogical-didactic challenge for Moroccan research-professors in the social sciences which require a multitude of reflections. In this regard, under the supervision of the Laboratory of Applied Sciences, the Environment and Sustainable Development (SAEED), the Action and Research Group in Communication, Culture and Organization (ARGCCO/ GARCCO) will launch the first edition of its International colloquium called: Soft skills and university in times of covid-19: What solutions for what problems?
Announcement
Argument
After the deep reflections on the competencies of Hard-Skills since the beginning of this third millennium, it is now up to such skills to be called upon in turn with the launch of the Bachelor's degree within the Moroccan higher education system. Indeed, languages, soft skills, digital technology and the flexible UV system are the major new features of this training system. It is with these trainings and soft skills to instill a pedagogical transformation to promote the skills of the student. The objective, on the one hand, is first to improve the performance of the university by increasing the "graduation" rate, on the other hand, to improve the employability of students by emphasizing languages skills, interpersonal skills, soft skills, life skills, civic and professional skills. Soft skills therefore aim, alongside other training courses, to give the student tools to learn to solve complex problems, develop his critical sense, his creativity, his sense of initiative, his leadership, develop his emotional intelligence, his capacity for arbitration and decision-making, which will facilitate his integration into companies…After a year of delay in its application, due to the Covid-19 health crisis, the start of the Bachelor system on September 7, 2021 had met with great success, at least in the faculties of certain regions of Morocco such as that of Casablanca. This is evidenced by the enthusiasm for enrollment in the economic and legal courses, in particular at the Faculty of Legal, Economic and Social Sciences - Aïn Chock. This has the largest number of registrants nationwide. Training in soft skills seems to be the most requested among all the training courses offered by the Bachelor because they meet a demand from private companies. Indeed, according to Abdellatif KOMAT, dean of the FSJES of Casablanca, who was interviewed by the newspaper Le Matin, in October 2018, during a forum bringing together the various partners concerned by the upgrade of the education system, namely Universities, Anapec, CGEM, AGEF, the professional world had expressed its concerns about the shortcomings observed among job seekers who mainly affect two levels : the first concerns the linguistic part and the second corresponds to personal and interpersonal skills, commonly called soft skills. It is, according to Abdellatif KOMAT, a challenge with multiple dimensions: the young person's ability to communicate, to innovate, to work in a team, to develop leadership, to take the initiative, to analyze problems, to find solutions, to develop the ability to adapt and evolve in a changing professional world[1]. If the need for Soft skills within the higher education system is imposed by professional priority, the Moroccan researcher in social sciences cannot ignore this change of educational paradigm. He will surely have in mind this reflection of the last work of Michel SERRES when he wrote: "How is it that light, impalpable, airy, spiritual power spreads towards ubiquity and tends towards permanence, while temporal power, hard and local, submits to diminishing returns in time and in space ? [2]". Within the Moroccan educational system, Michel SERRES’ theory of the teaching of Soft-Skills foregrounds the emergence of a place that is not "material, concrete and visible." It would therefore be relevant to ask:
- To what extent can soft skills, with the start of Bachelor, move from the role of intuitive skills to tangible, measurable skills?
- How to teach soft skills in higher education?
- What place do Soft Skills occupy in university programs during this academic year?
- How the duration of the state of emergency of the Covid-19 crisis is likely to impact the positioning of the teaching of Soft Skills vis-à-vis the other courses introduced by the Bachelor?
- What Soft skills courses are a priority in the higher education system in this time of the Covid-19 crisis?
- How will the teaching of Soft Skills become in the future with this Covid-19 crisis?
- How can soft skills, more than ever, enhance the students’ profile on the competitive job market in this Covid-19 crisis?
The objective of the international colloquium is therefore twofold. Firstly, it lays emphasis on the problems already apparent with the introduction of the teaching of Soft skills within the higher education system. Secondly, this conference aims to discover the proposed solutions to solve such problems. It is hoped that the scope of this colloquium will be international given that this problem is common among other foreign higher educational systems. Therefore, by bringing together Moroccan researchers with their foreign counterparts, the diagnosis of the problems of teaching Soft Skills during this period of the Covid-19 crisis will be carried out in a very meticulous way, and the proposed solutions even more relevant.
Organizational methods
Following the health restrictions imposed by the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education, the international conference will take place online via the Zoom or meet google platform and will be broadcast simultaneously on the Facebook social network.
Terms of submission
26/03/2022 Deadline for sending communication proposals (title and abstract of approximately 250 and 500 words including keywords, accompanied by a brief biography containing the following information: status, affiliation and contact details) to the following address:
- garcco2022@gmail.com
Response from the scientific committee of the conference: 14/04/2022
Symposium dates: May 23 and 24, 2022 at the Higher School of Technology of Essaouira-University Cadi Ayyad Marrakech-Morocco
Scientific committee
- Dr. El AIDI Abdelatif ( Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Fes)
- Dr. El AYADI Driss (Mohamed V university,Rabat)
- Dr. AICH Youness (Chouaib Doukkali University, AlJadida)
- Dr. SANHAJI Mounir (Ibn Zohr University, Agadir)
- Dr. ISMAILI Jalal (Moulay Ismail University, Meknes)
- Dr. KHALIL KARIMA ( Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
- Dr. LAZRAK Yassir (Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Fes)
- Dr. ERAFIQ Brahim (Université Ibn Zohr, Agadir)
- Dr. AIT KAIKAI Wafa (Université Ibn Zohr, Agadir)
- Dr. BARA Aicha (Université Ibn Zohr, Agadir)
- Dr. TAIFOUR Zahra ( Université Ibn Zohr, Agadir)
- Dr. ZARI Hicham ( Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
- Dr. HADDOUCH Mohammed (Chouaib Doukkali University, Al Jadida, Morocco)
- Dr. El FILALI Adil (Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
- Dr. ZERRAD Abdelhak (Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
- Dr. RAHALI Saadia (Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
- Dr. ZAHIR Mustapha (Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
- Dr. DAMSIRI ZAINAB (Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
- Dr. EL BOUAYADI Mohamed (Chouaib Doukkali University, AlJadida)
- Dr. LAABIDI Abdelfattah (Moulay Ismail University, Meknes)
- Dr.ELHOUSSNI KHALID (Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
- Dr. ZIAD Lamia (Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
- Dr. LISSANEDDINE Abdelilah (Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
- Dr. JOUAY Boujemaa ( Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
- Dr. CHARHADDINE Imane ( Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech)
Notes
[1] https://lematin.ma/journal/2021/systeme-bachelor-demarrage-faculte-in-chock-4300-inscrits/366542.html
[2] Michel Serres, Relire le relié (2019), Ed. FAYARD, page.26
Subjects
- Education (Main subject)
- Mind and language > Language > Literature
Event format
Full online event
Date(s)
- Saturday, March 26, 2022
Keywords
- bachelor, soft skill, communication, université, employabilité, covid-19
Contact(s)
- Hicham Zari
courriel : zari_hich [at] yahoo [dot] fr
Information source
- Hicham Zari
courriel : zari_hich [at] yahoo [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Soft skills and university in times of covid-19 », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, https://calenda.org/970413