Extracurricular Activities and Employability Skill Perception

Abstract

This study attempted to find university students’ perception of their employability skills, such as personal, interpersonal, and administrative skills, through their participation in extracurricular activities. After comparing the perception of students participating in extracurricular activities with those not participating in extracurricular activities for personal skills, this research paper found that there was a significant difference reported with reference to self-confidence, integrity, commitment, adaptability, independence, willingness to learn, overcoming stage fear, positive attitude, and adjustment with others. However, with reference to self-discipline, presence of mind, and character, no significant differences were reported. The researcher then compared the perception of students participating in extracurricular activities with those not participating in extracurricular activities for interpersonal skills and found a significant difference in communication, team spirit, leadership, public relations, networking, persuasion, listening, and collaboration. No significant differences were found for conflict resolution, empathy towards others, mediating, and negotiation. Finally, the researcher compared the perception of students participating in extracurricular activities with those not participating in extracurricular activities for administrative skills and found that there were significant differences reported with reference to critical thinking, initiative, resource management, organizational, prioritization, patience, and flexibility skills. However, no significant differences were reported with respect to planning, time management, and problem solving. Overall, it was observed that students participating in extracurricular activities had a high perception of their employability skills. However, the effect sizes showed limited practical influence on personal, interpersonal, and administrative skill enhancement. To enhance the generalizability of the findings, future research should extend this study to different universities across India. A longitudinal study can also be conducted to determine the influence of sustained participation in extracurricular activities on employability skills and career outcomes.