Challenges in higher education are becoming increasingly nuanced and complex. Technological innovations, shifting human-machine frontiers, and advances in AI, Healthcare, and Medicine are emerging as key focus areas. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023highlights that 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted by 2027. Analytical and creative thinking will be crucial skills in the next five years, closely followed by leadership, social influence, resilience, flexibility, and agility.
Possible approaches
The future of higher education lies in the fine integration of these skill sets. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) emphasises a principles-based and outcomes-focused approach and underscores the need for experiential learning, social impact, career readiness, and partnerships. Similarly, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology emphasises skill competency while ensuring that academic programmes meet high-quality standards aligned with industry needs. The National Board of Accreditation in India focuses on achieving desirable outcomes in knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviour, based on an ‘Input-Process-Output’ model. Additionally, the National Educational Policy (NEP) 2020 emphasises knowledge, skills, values, and dispositions that support responsible commitment to human rights, sustainable development, and global well-being.
The question now is whether Indian higher education institutions (HEIs) are equipping students with these skills, or still fixated on teaching them to remember and understand subjects through a taxonomical design, such as Bloom’s Taxonomy? The answer, unfortunately, is a resounding “Yes”, with some exceptions.
How can we prepare students to be future ready? Competency-based education (CBE) and outcome-based education (OBE) are two dominant approaches to assess student learning. OBE emphasises mastery of specific skills and competencies that reflect real-world experiences, while CBE aligns educational outcomes with the labour market needs, increases employability, and fosters industry connections. Unfortunately, both often focus on discipline-centric skills and overlook discipline-neutral ones. Consequently, HEIs assess educational relevance by emphasising multidisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity as educational outcomes. While CBE advocates for a transformative approach, there remains a transactional focus.
The skill gaps in higher education are particularly pronounced in the technology sector. A high rate of graduate unemployment due to a mismatch between the skills taught in colleges/universities and those needed by industry has led to poor job performance and employer dissatisfaction, particularly in areas such as writing, editing, research, and data analysis.
Three-step assessment
These challenges can be addressed by a newframework that effectively integrates knowledge, cognition, and social inquiry into the educational curriculum, focusing on skill development and social orientation. It positions students as key stakeholders alongside parents, industry representatives, and faculty and emphasises social orientation and skills competency by integrating OBE and CBE, promoting a multidimensional approach to learning. It enables students to develop higher-order skills, enhance their capacity for social inquiry, and refine and sharpen their competencies throughout their academic journey.
Not only does it formally integrate social inquiry into educational design but also strengthens skills and competency courses while establishing a robust, communicative, and engaging framework. This allows for mapping students’ skills and social orientation through a well-defined mentoring process, including corporate mentoring in subsequent stages. The framework involves a three-stage assessment:
Stage I: Initial assessment of student skills during the orientation programme and/or at the start of classes. Students participate in the Learners Value Proposition (LVP), which, while not mandatory, facilitates skills mapping. Once the results are analysed, they are aligned with the programme’s mission and objectives, creating a case file for each student.
Stage II: Assigned mentors conduct continuous assessment at the end of each semester and implement the necessary intervention for skill development through electives and participation in activities or field projects. Corporate mentorship and parental feedback can be integrated aiding in competency mapping and social orientation for internships.
Stage III: The final assessment compiles a comprehensive student profile, which maps skills competency in alignment with future job requirements and upskilling needs.
Higher education must prepare students to be future flag-bearers who will tackle complex global problems. The World Bank’s latest report on poverty reveals that 8.5% of the world’s population still lives on less than $2.15 a day. The critical question remains: are we adequately preparing our future problem-solvers with the relevant skills, knowledge, and competencies?
The writer is Professor and Director, Centre for Postgraduate and Legal Studies, and Centre of Excellence in Public Policy, Alliance School of Law.
Published – March 08, 2025 03:00 pm IST