Developing critical thinking skills in higher education institutions

Abstract

In the modern era, there exists a demand for qualified job candidates who possess the 21st century/transferable/soft skills. One of the most required soft skills on the labour market is critical thinking, which implies such high cognitive skills as judgment, evidence, analysis, and argumentation. Critical thinking means thinking purposefully, and it can be developed through time. Developing critical thinking at universities became a very popular concern in recent years, because the tertiary education system prepares employees for the future labour market and employers are seeking those candidates who have different soft skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, resilience, communication and many other soft skills. The goal of the current study was to reveal whether the purposeful application of methods that develop critical thinking in the classroom is effective with regard to developing critical thinking skills in students. The experimental method was chosen for the research. Pre- and post-questionnaires were used in the experimental and control groups. 52 students from the strategic management course participated in the study. It was concluded that purposeful teaching with activities that develop critical thinking has a positive effect on developing critical thinking skills. The article can be useful for university administration representatives, such as program heads, deans and all those specialists who create university programs, courses, and curricula.