Kühling-Thees, C., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Nagel, M.-T., Yamada, R. & Shirakawa, Y. (2021). Generic Skills of Economics and Educational Science Students – Insights from a German-Japanese Study. In E. Braun, R. Esterhazy & R. Kordts-Freudinger (Edt.). Research on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (pp. 83-98). Münster: Waxmann.

Abstract: Assessing domain-specific and generic skills in higher education has gained significant importance worldwide. Recent curricular analyses have confirmed that the acquisition of domain-specific and generic skills is included as a learning outcome in the study manuals and module descriptions of most German and Japanese higher education study programs. Based on these findings, we conducted an online assessment of students in both countries, focusing on two subjects (educational studies, and economics) to measure domain-specific and generic skills that students are expected to develop during their undergraduate studies. The present study is part of a German-Japanese research project (139 Japanese students; 95 German students). The results show significant differences, for example between the level of subject-specific knowledge as measured by a knowledge test and students’ self-assessment of their generic skills. The identified differences between the two countries and between the two subjects indicate important implications for further research and higher education practice.