The Global Agenda 2030 has set out a common pathway that delineates the type of vocational training that higher education institutions (HEIs) should provide to respond to the challenges it sets. Rankings and other metrics are concerned with examining the quality of higher education in terms of research standards or international accreditation. However, leave aside the quality of education offered in HEIs from the perspective of teaching and developing soft skills in line with labor market needs. This paper aims to analyze how soft skills are developed and researched in higher education based on two types of analysis. In the first, a content review of research articles published between 2010 and 2022 that examined the formation of soft skills in students was conducted. The second used text mining techniques and modeling based on bipartite networks. The results showed that the competencies most addressed in the studies were intrapersonal competencies, such as critical thinking and adaptability; interpersonal competencies, such as team leadership; and transversal competencies, such as oral and written communication. In addition, it was found that the preferred pedagogical methods for training them were courses to teach the competencies, the use of open educational resources (OER), guidance materials for learning the necessary competencies, and teaching models. Finally, role-play activities and self-report questionnaires were often used to explore and analyze soft skills. © Proceedings of International Conference on Research in Education and Science 2024.
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