ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the roles of social capital as used to promote soft skills among university students in order to prepare them for the society 5.0 transformation. Society 5.0 aims at tackling challenges the digitalization across all levels of society and how society can be transformed to fit the needs of the new world. One of the important elements for the new world is to have a great social capital network which has a close link with the quality of human soft skills. Therefore, this study surveyed 264 university students in Malaysia, where results demonstrated that the majority of them had a high social capital level and level of soft skills. Results revealed that there is no significant difference between genders with regards to social capital. This means that both genders had participated in various activities actively. However, there is a significant relationship between gender and level of soft skills. It has been found that male students have higher soft skills if compared to female students. This study found that there is a positive significant relationship between social capital and soft skills which indicates that both elements are very important in facing challenges in the new world. By having a great social network, they would have better opportunities in developing their careers. Therefore, this study recommends an extraordinary curriculum in higher education as it will benefit students in facing the challenges of society 5.0.
