Abstract:

The digitalization of work and life contexts is taking place at an unprecedented pace, introducing profound changes in the nature of human tasks, and demanding for new forms of interaction and integration between individuals and technologies. The young professionals that are currently being qualified in higher education institutions will engage in a large variety of new jobs where their full potential as decision-makers and problem-solvers can only be achieved if we allow them to experience qualification models that develop both their technical and transversal competences. The expected changes in production contexts will take place gradually, and will require fluid dialogue between employers and education providers, in order to allow for an adequate update of competence requirements, as well as for the development of continuous qualification and requalification models.

The first part of this study offers a conceptual foundation and discussion about the implications of the digitalization of work environments for the qualification of professionals, as well as for the new demands that are being placed on higher education institutions and on their role in regional talent attraction, development and retention. Building on a literature review the study derives a list of technical and transversal competences that are at the forefront of qualification needs to support the performance and sustainability of the emerging digitally-enabled production systems. The second part of the work describes the methodology and discusses the results from an exploratory study, conducted at a regional level to auscultate the business tissue of the Region of Aveiro (Portugal) for the identification of priorities in the qualification and digital transformation of the production systems. The research work relies on the evidence collected through workshops with Information Technology, Communications and Electronics companies with strong influence in the region and in the transformation of the production ecosystem. The results indicate the technological trends and the qualification needs of the current and future human resources. This data is of particular relevance since it can contribute to the design of training proposals that will enable the qualification of the human resources of the companies of the region according to their real needs, being at the same time in agreement with the technological trends of the current globalized world.

Keywords:

Competence priorities, digital transformation, higher education.