ABSTRACT
This chapter features the effectiveness of the development of employability skills for students in Vietnamese universities via extracurricular activities (ECAs). Statistical analyses of 423 responses to a survey and content analysis of 18 semi-structured interviews with students consistently reveal that the Youth Union and its associates contribute a great deal to the execution of soft skills in their institutions via organizing ECAs. Participants report that these activities develop several soft employability skills for them. However, this appears to greatly depend on student engagement, which was found to be associated with: (i) their beliefs about the benefits of participating in ECAs; (ii) their ability to balance formal education activities with part-time work and ECAs; (iii) availability of information about these activities; and (iv) professional organization of these activities. This chapter recommends that ECAs should be more intensively used to develop students’ employability skills.
