Older educators need to adapt how they teach soft skills to students who are part of Generation Z and have 鈥渃ompletely different aspirations鈥� from those they had, experts have said.

Ghassan Aouad, chancellor of Abu Dhabi University, told delegates at the 探花视频 MENA Universities Summit that the current cohort of students were affected by a series of new challenges 鈥� including financial constraints and climate change.

Another important driver is their experience during the coronavirus pandemic, when they were isolated from campuses and their peers, he told the event, held at NYU Abu Dhabi.

鈥淭hey are called sometimes the entitlement generation. They want everything; they don鈥檛 ask for it, so we have to provide it; so our attitude as educators has to change,鈥� Professor Aouad said

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鈥淲hen you look at this Generation Z鈥hey have completely different aspirations from our aspirations.鈥�

Professor Aouad said this crop of students wanted to look for a job in their first year at university and then complete their degree over a longer period of time.

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In addition, even the best-performing students can find themselves locked out of the job market聽if they lack the soft skills required to pass an interview, he said.

By contrast, the former president of the Applied Science University in Bahrain said he and his peers had wanted to go to university, finish in four years and then find a job.

鈥淚 remember in my generation, once I got my degree, I [found] a job and I had no soft skills whatsoever, it wasn鈥檛 important. A degree was a passport to go and find a job,鈥� he said.

Lotfi Romdhane, associate dean for graduate affairs and research at the American University of Sharjah, said this generation of 鈥渄igital natives鈥� were all more knowledgeable about technology than his, which presents a challenge.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a big challenge, especially for educators like myself who when I studied 30 years ago, we did not have this technology, so I have to adapt myself and learn so I can help the students.鈥�

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However, this easy access to technology was not always beneficial for their mindset, he warned, and nor are all students as equally capable of picking up new skills.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I think our role as educators is to help them focus and channel these skills to good use,鈥� Dr Romdhane said.

Hamad Obhabi, vice-chancellor for financial and administrative affairs at Abu Dhabi University, and also speaking at the event, agreed.

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鈥淭here is a gap between [students鈥橾 love of technology and their ability聽to use it to do something useful,聽and I think that needs to be addressed,鈥� he said.

鈥淗ow can you put that knowledge and skill into something useful?鈥�

Dr Romdhane said soft skills were very important, particularly communication and teaching students how to sell themselves.

鈥淗owever, the technical background, the hard skills are also very important.

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鈥淭his is what鈥檚 going to last with you 鈥� a sufficient background for the job, because this is what鈥檚 going to come out after a year or two.鈥�

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com