Author Information
Satoshi Kanamori, Tokyo Kasei Gakuin University, JapanYoshihiro Maeda, Fukuyama University, Japan
Abstract
This study investigates how university life during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2024) affected Japanese students’ Fundamental Competencies for Working Persons, with particular attention to negative effects. In recent years, transferable competencies beyond academic knowledge have become increasingly important; however, prolonged restrictions during the pandemic raised concerns about students’ skill development. Using large-scale diagnostic data from the “Fundamental Competencies for Working Persons in the VUCA Era” assessment, this study analyzed responses from 2,195 third-year university students. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between competency scores, the length of the COVID-19 period experienced in university life (measured in months), and students’ primary activities, such as part-time work, seminars, and hobbies. The results indicated that a longer COVID-19 period had significant negative effects on overall competency scores as well as on all three core abilities. Among them, the Ability to Work in Teams showed the strongest negative association with pandemic duration, suggesting that prolonged limitations on face-to-face interaction critically hindered teamwork development. In addition, greater engagement in hobbies was negatively associated with the Ability to Take Action and the Ability to Think Thoroughly. These findings suggest that reduced experiential and collaborative opportunities, along with increased involvement in individual and non-collaborative activities, contributed to the decline in students’ competencies.
Paper Information
Conference: ACE2025Stream: Professional Training
This paper is part of the ACE2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Kanamori S., & Maeda Y. (2026) The Impact of University Life During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Fundamental Competencies for Working Persons: Focusing on Negative Effects ISSN: 2186-5892 – The Asian Conference on Education 2025: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 1401-1414) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5892.2026.107
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5892.2026.107
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