There are three activities that must be completed by UNY new students, namely soft skill training; Pro-Tefl tutorials and English Language test; and ICT training. Those three are part of UNY attempt to make its students into excellent, creative, innovative, pious, self-reliant and intellectual person. By completing the soft skill training, it is expected that UNY graduates will be an exceptional alumni with good skill on communication, collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving as well as creativity and innovation.

UNY Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, Margana said that the students who successfully pass the admission exam through Independent Selection scheme has  a real challenging experience because this year around 43.500 prospective student candidates applied and only limited candidate accepted. To have a successful university life, UNY students must have social skills, communication skills, character skills, attitude, social intelligence and emotional intelligence.

UNY Vice Rector for Student Affairs, Sumaryanto said that this batch 1 soft skills training were attended by 1,181 independent selection students consisting of 345 Faculty of Education students, 367 Faculty of Languages and Arts students, 245 Faculty of Mathematics and Natural sciences students and 224 Faculty of Social Sciences students. "The training material consists of 6 theories and 12 practices involving 387 lecturers and 112 instructors," Sumaryanto said. Soft skills activities are also carried out in each faculty unit and are given material that is practical with presenters from the leadership of the faculty of UNY, departments and study programs.

The soft skills training of UNY students is carried out in the learning process and extra-curricular. This soft skill development is needed so that students can have the skills to interact with others. One form of extra-curricular that can shape student soft skills is through student organization activities. The material presented in the development of soft skills includes time management, student behavior ethics and character development of Indonesian local culture-based students. One participant, Listyaning Widya from the Science Education Study Program hopes that this soft skill can help her adapt to campus life that is different from the high school era. The Yogyakarta SMTI alumni want that what they get in soft skills training can make them more aware of the life of students and learn about leadership. (Dedy)