The university is a space for academic learning, as well as a key environment for developing professional, social and emotional competencies. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and social skills as predictor variables of generic professional competencies of university students, influencing their well-being and academic performance. A non-experimental ex post facto, quantitative, descriptive and causal cross-sectional design was used. The sample, selected by stratified sampling, reached 423 students (78.90% female, 21.10% male). Social skills were measured with the Social Skills Scale by Gismero (2002), emotional intelligence with the TMMS-24 by Fernández-Berrocal et al. (2004), and competencies with the CECGEU by Solanes-Puchol et al. (2008). SPSS and AMOS 26.0 programs were used for data analysis, performing a descriptive analysis to analyze the relationship between variables and a structural equation model was developed to deepen the causal relationships of the variables. Significantly positive correlations were identified between social skills and generic professional competencies. Conversely, negative correlations were observed between emotional intelligence and both variables. The results indicated a negative effect of emotional intelligence on competencies, while social skills had a positive influence. A significant negative relationship was also observed between emotional intelligence and social skills. The study confirms the importance of social skills as a predictor of competence development. However, emotional intelligence showed a negative relationship with competencies, which contradicts previous studies. This suggests that greater emotional intelligence does not always translate into greater professional competencies, opening new lines of research on this interaction. © 2025, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED). All rights reserved.
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