How Physical Education Develops University Students’ Social Skills in China: A Dual Perspective

Physical education (PE) not only enhances students’ physical fitness but also plays a crucial role in cultivating essential social competencies. Despite demonstrating strong academic and professional knowledge, many Chinese university students still lack comprehensive competencies—particularly communication, coordination, and workplace adaptability. Guided by Bandura’s Social Learning Theory and Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory, this qualitative study explores how university PE contributes to developing interpersonal skills, teamwork ability, emotional quotient (EQ), persuasion and presentation skills, respect and responsibility. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with PE teachers and university students to examine their perceptions and experiences. The findings reveal that both teachers and students view PE as an effective platform for social skills development. Cooperative and competitive learning environments in PE classes are shown to enhance interpersonal skills, teamwork ability, EQ, persuasion and presentation skills and respect and responsibility. However, results varies due to differences in teaching design, class size, and learning atmosphere. Based on the actual situation, this study has proposed corresponding solutions to address these issues. This study enriches theoretical understandings of PE’ s social function and provides practical implications for optimizing curriculum design to cultivate socially competent, holistically developed university students.