Soft Skills and Group Performance in Higher Education: A Quantitative Study of Student Teams in Software Engineering

ABSTRACT This study examines how soft skills, technical expertise, weekly progress monitoring, and collaboration preferences affect group performance in software engineering education, where teamwork is essential but often evaluated primarily through technical outcomes. We analyzed data from 118 students across 28 teams engaged in real‐world, project‐based coursework. The data set included self‐ and instructor‐assessed skills, weekly status reports, and final deliverables. Statistical correlation, significance testing, and clustering techniques were employed to identify predictive factors of group success. Technical expertise, particularly the ability to extract core problems, strongly influenced early project performance. In later phases, communication and teamwork emerged as decisive predictors of success. Teams with stronger soft skills achieved more balanced contributions and higher deliverable grades, while collaboration preferences were associated with fairer workload distribution. The findings highlight that integrating structured soft skills assessment and strategic team formation into software engineering curricula enhances team performance and reduces dysfunctional dynamics. This work extends performance prediction beyond technical indicators, providing actionable insights for aligning education with industry expectations and preparing graduates for collaborative professional contexts.