Developing a scale for future skills readiness for undergraduate students at King Abdulaziz University

The study aimed to develop a Future Skills Readiness Scale for a sample of King Abdulaziz University students. It also aimed to identify its psychometric properties, test its validity and reliability, determine students' level of future skills acquisition, and determine the extent of significant differences in students' level of future skills readiness based on gender, training courses, college, and cumulative GPA. The scale was administered to a random sample of 217 undergraduate students (110 males and 107 females). Classical Test Theory (CTT), modern Item Response Theory (IRT), and Item Response Theory (IRT) were used to verify the scale's psychometric properties. The scale's reliability was confirmed using two methods: split-half, with a reliability coefficient of 0.886, and Cronbach's alpha, with a reliability coefficient of 0.919, confirming the reliability of the Future Skills Scale for undergraduate students. The correlation coefficient between the scale items and the total score was greater than 0.3. The validity of the scale was confirmed by inter-rater validity and factorial validity, which revealed six factors for the Future Skills Readiness Scale: critical thinking and problem-solving, lifelong learning and adaptation, emotional intelligence and communication, creativity and innovation, digital and technical skills, entrepreneurship, and professional independence. The results generally showed that the finalized Future Skills Readiness Scale has adequate validity and reliability evidence for this type of scale, making it a valid and usable tool with reliable results. The study recommended applying the scale to other samples with different characteristics to confirm the current results. The study concluded that the level of future skills readiness among university students in the targeted sample ranged from high to very high. The results also showed that the level of future skills readiness among the respondent sample varied significantly based on gender, training courses, college, and cumulative GPA. In light of this, the study presented a number of recommendations and proposals.