Promoting Generic Skills of University Students Through Extracurricular Activity Participation

Abstract

Japanese university students spend much of their time on extracurricular activities. It is assumed that the experience in extracurricular activities greatly contribute to students’ human development, but it is not completely clear in previous studies. This study examined various dimensions of university students’ involvement in extracurricular activities, and whether these dimensions are related to the development of their generic skills, based on a questionnaire survey of university students. The results of this study showed that the students who only have experience of working part-time, as well as those who have no experience in extracurricular activities have lower generic skills than those who have experience in extracurricular activities. Moreover, only the linking between experience in extracurricular activities and in-class studies was related to the development of generic skills.