This submission will share the author’s perfective on the article “future skills and the future of

higher education”.
There has been a lot of discussion and research on future skills because of the basic changes in
the job market which have been due to several powerful drivers. Many studies have focused on
the future changes related to digital technologies and relate digital skills directly to future skills. It
is an important perspective to look at future skills from the digital skills point of view, but it is
only one aspect. Future skills must be looked at and studied from multiple angles.
The Delphi survey took a much broader approach and went further past the demand of digital
skills. Delphi’s survey highlights a very well-informed future of higher education from the experts’
vision for the future of higher education.
The well-informed expert’s perspective very well considers the future skills demand and lists the
four labels of change in higher education that will change the learning revolution and introduce a
pilot model for graduates of the future.
The report collects and combines perspectives from a panel of about 50 international experts
from businesses and higher education. The panel of international experts was asked the extent of
relevance, the adoption timeframe of future skills, the driving pillars of change, and scenarios of
higher education.
Future Skills
Future Skills are competences that allow individuals to solve complex problems in highly
emergent contexts of action in a self-organized way and enable them to act (successfully) (WEF,
2018). It refers to the person’s character to perform to the outside world in an organized and
efficient manner. A Three-Dimensional Model for Future Skills is a very interesting phenomenon
because it classifies Future Skills into three dimensions which are all interrelated. The three
dimensions are the subject dimension, the object dimension, and the world / social dimension.
Subject Dimension
The subject dimension of the future skills focuses on the individual’s abilities to learn, adjust, and
improve to widen their opportunities in participating in the much-needed future workforce with
the necessary skills. Their enhanced skills and knowledge will help shape the future working
environment to form societies that can handle future challenges. It comprises of seven profiles of
future skills: Self-efficacy, autonomy, self-initiative, self-management, need/motivation, personal
agility, autonomous learning competence, and self-management (Ehlers, U. D., 2018).
There are many students in some of the top universities of the world with the best lecturers and
top-class infrastructure. Regardless of the opportunities presented to them, they will not learn to
expectations unless they change their disposition and attitude towards learning. This is a very
cardinal dimension because it determines how an individual will relate to the content and the
world around them. It is very important, that this dimension is fulfilled before we explore other
parts of the dimension.
Object Dimension
The object dimension of the future skills is the second dimension. This dimension focuses on how
an individual’s disposition relates to an object, a subject matter or task. In this case, an object
could be the content, or the tools availed to them. This dimension focuses on how the self-
organized individual deals with what they have been availed with, their attitude, their motivation,
their purpose, and values to add value by smearing their disposition to the subject matter, or
object or task. It is not just about them adding knowledge or skills, it is about how their
disposition adds value to what they have been given to bring out the professionalism. It contains
five future skills profiles: digital literacy, ability to reflect, creativity, tolerance for ambiguity, and
agility (Ehlers, U. D., 2018).
World/Social Dimension
The world/social dimension is the third future skill dimension. It relates to an individual’s self-
organized ability to their world or social environment. This dimension emphasizes the individual’s
role as the guardian of its social and organizational spheres. This role involves creating new
organizational structures and rethinking organizational spaces to make it future proof. It
encompasses five skill profiles. It encompasses five future skills profiles: future mindset,
cooperation skills, sense-making, and communication competence (Ehlers, U. D., 2018).
Within the three dimensions are sixteen skill profiles that have been defined. A skill profile is a
subsystem that contains further subskills (Ehlers, U. D., 2018).
Future Learning
The Delphi survey highlighted a shift to active learning of autonomy and choice from the
traditional academic education. Higher educational institutions will provide a different basic
model of education from today’s education. Future learning dimensions in higher education will
contain structural aspects and pedagogical design of academic learning. The changing practices in
assessments, socio-constructive learning, credit transfer structures and many other changes will
make education relevant and attract students to having an interest in their learning because of
the autonomy and flexibility in choosing their preferred curricula.
Drivers of Change in Higher Education
The focus on future skills such as autonomy, applying and reflecting knowledge self-organization,
and creativity will change how students view education. Students will be motivated to learn
because they would even be able to choose subjects or modules of their choice unlike what has
been happening for years. This is a step in the right direction. A few days ago, I was covering a
French language teacher, and during the session, one student told me that he hated studying
French Language. I asked him why he was attending the class and he told me that he had no
option but take the class. These are some of the scenarios that will not have to be dealt with in
the future if students are able to choose their own subjects and hence the expected motivation.
The flexible and personalized model in which students actively cooperate with educators or
advisors in curriculum designing would help address the current issues in readiness for the
future.
Four Scenarios for Future HE
The ‘future skill’ university scenario focuses on developing skills rather than knowledge
acquisition to enhance future skill development. Regardless, knowledge of acquisition and
studying based on curricula cannot be entirely replaced with skills because even the acquisition
of skills requires a certain amount knowledge and structure for an individual to master a skill.
The ‘networked university scenario is a brilliant proposal as students in higher education can
have access to education from various institutions. Some universities are better and well
specialized at some subjects, and this would help the graduates feel that they are indeed
acquiring what is worth their time. For example, MIT is renowned for its technology prowess and
the National Institute of Education (Singapore) is famous for its educational programs, hence
students would benefit greatly from this scenario.
The “My-university” scenario emphasizes on flexibility and autonomy which allows students to
build their own curricula. This scenario arouses motivation and interest from the students
towards their learning.
The “lifelong higher learning scenario focuses on the workplace with learners choosing their
preferred modules according to their skill and knowledge needs with an emphasis on autonomy.
Singapore has a similar program called “Myskillsfuture” which provides free education to its
citizens. “MySkillsFuture” is a one-stop online portal that enables Singaporeans to chart their
own career and lifelong learning pathways, through access to industry information and tools to
search for training programs to broaden and deepen
skills(https://www.skillsfuture.gov.sg/myskillsfuture). Each willing citizen opens an online account
on the platform which stores all the modules or courses one has completed under this program,
and these courses are later considered or exempted when one intends to join a new workforce or
course. The courses on this platform can also be used to promote employees who have acquired
the skills through this platform.
Conclusion
The strategy needed to effect change in higher education depends on leadership, both at the
university and policy-maker’s level. Without a determined, and focused leadership, it will not be
easy to achieve the future skills model. Collaboration, communication, culture change, creating
digital awareness, and changes in culture are what are needed to achieve the much-needed
excellence.
Education systems of the future must be characterized by a larger ecosystem where decision
making, and responsibilities are shared among a wide group of stakeholders. Students must be
active participants in their own learning and their wellbeing must be valued in addition to
academic performance. The different type of learners with their diverse backgrounds means that
their learning is a nonlinear process, hence the need for different types of standards and not the
usual standardized tests. Frequent feedback must be adopted at all levels of the education
system and not just accountability. Research may predict about the future, but it remains
unpredictable which means that by developing responsive education systems, we can help our
learners to adapt and thrive in the present and future environments.
This submission shared the author’s perfective on the article “future skills and the future of
higher education”.
References
Ehlers, U. D. (2019). Future Skills and the future of higher education. Karlsruhe
World Economic Forum, Towards a Reskilling Revolution: A Future of Jobs for All, 2018.
My Skills Future. 1st October 2022. Retrieved from https://www.skillsfuture.gov.sg/myskillsfuture