Htqe.2025.09

https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2025.09 | 122-136 | PDF

Social Skills of University Students in Thailand and Latvia: Results of a Survey

Monta Jakovleva¹, Buratin Khampirat², Ieva Rudzinska¹, Iveta Boge¹, Ludmila Malahova¹, Anastasija Ropa¹, Kwanruan Pusaboon³
¹Riga Stradiņš University, Latvia
²Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand
³Surindra Rajabhat University, Thailand

Abstract
The role of the university is to educate and train professionals to meet the changing demands of the labour market. Industry 5.0, which characterises the current labour market, emphasises the human centre, and social skills are increasingly recognized as critical competencies enabling individuals to work effectively in complex, interconnected environments. The objective of this study is to analyse Thai and Latvian students’ social skill development with the help of a self-response Social Skills of University Students (SSUS) questionnaire and find the most important factors in it. The research was carried out in 2023–2024 in Thailand and Latvia. The SSUS questionnaire consisted of 58 statements. A five-point Likert scale for student response was used, and descriptive and conclusive statistics methods were used to determine central tendencies of social skill development. The participants were 955 students of both genders from 15 universities across Thailand and 154 students from the Riga Stradinsh University, Latvian Academy of Sport Education. Cronbach’s Alpha of the Thai scale was 0.91, of Latvian – 0.90. Using exploratory factor analysis six factors characterizing social skills were revealed: Self-responsibility skills, Social relationship skills, Self-awareness skills, Teamwork-building skills, Social networking skills and Communication skills. A list of statements with loadings > 0.40, is the same in both countries. Moreover, in Social-relationship skills both countries included the statements “I believe that honesty is the foundation of trust” and “I listen and ask to understand others’ advice and suggestions”. Thai female students had higher all six social competencies/skills than male students with one exception – Thai male students were more skilled in social networking. In Latvia insignificant differences in strategy use between genders were found – females tended to use them more, Year 4 students were found to use more strategies than Year 1 and Year 2 students, full-time students – more than part-time ones, but no differences were found in social strategy use among sports industry qualifications.

Keywords: higher education institutions (HEI)s, Latvia, social skills, Thailand

In: Human, Technologies and Quality of Education, 2025. Proceedings of Scientific Papers = Cilvēks, tehnoloģijas un izglītības kvalitāte, 2025. Rakstu krājums.  Ed. L. Daniela. Riga: University of Latvia, 2025. 698 p.
ISBN 978-9934-36-461-7 
https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2025