Why call them 'literacies' not 'soft skills'

How do universities ensure their programmes and curricula meet the demands from industry, government – and students themselves – for career-ready graduates equipped with vital transferable skills?

Skills – whether you call them soft, transferable, power, productivity, work-based or human skills – have come to dominate the conversation about employability. The rapid advance of artificial intelligence, coupled with a shrinking number of entry-level roles, means that graduates are looking for the capabilities that will give them an edge. Industry and governments, meanwhile, have their eye on the economic and innovation advantages that come with an agile, digitally literate and productive workforce.

Alongside academic skills, universities have long provided students with opportunities to develop communication, critical thinking and teamwork skills, but external demands mean they need to be more intentional about embedding transferable skills in curricula – and give graduates means to evidence this learning.

To find out how institutions in the UK and Australia are responding to the call for work-ready graduates with a skill set adapted to the modern economy, we talked to:

• Sir David Bell is vice-chancellor and chief executive of the University of Sunderland. He is also vice-chair of Skills England. Sir David has served as Her Majesty’s chief inspector of schools, and his public sector roles include permanent secretary at the UK Department for Education, director of education and libraries for Newcastle City Council and chief executive of Bedfordshire County Council.
• Dawn Bennett is a higher education consultant, with a focus on graduate outcomes and student success. She is also founder of the Developing Employ-ability Initiative, which gives students and educators a framework for managing career development and mapping employability skills, and a senior associate with consultancy Outside Opinion. She spent 14 years as the John Curtin distinguished professor of higher education and director of the Developing Employability and Creative Workforce Initiatives at Curtin University, Australia, and continues to engage in research. She is a former professional violist.
• Derek Harding is manager of the VET Educator Academy at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne. In this role, he works on professional development for staff to promote academic quality. A former high school teacher, he has experience in foundation education and instructional design.

For more advice and insight on developing transferable skills from academics and experts from universities around the world, read our spotlight Soft skills for hard times.