Abstract:

A good knowledge in substance, regardless of the topic area, is not anymore enough for any new graduate, without adequate general working life skills and the ability to apply the knowledge into practice (e.g. Crebert et al. 2004). The importance of transferable skills as a part of university education has been recognized already a couple of decades ago (e.g. Harvey) and has even increased during the last few years (e.g. Suleman 2016, Clarke 2017).

Starting from the beginning of 2019, a new higher education community was established in Tampere when two universities, Tampere University of Technology and University of Tampere, merged and were joined in a corporation with Tampere University of Applied Sciences. In this new higher education community of Tampere, a decision was made to enforce the presence of working life skills in all degrees. It was decided that the following areas of expertise should be included in the learning outcomes of all degrees and that every graduate should have these working life skills upon graduation:
o Learning skills and critical thinking
o Ethics
o Employability skills
o Information technology and digital skills
o Innovation
o Interaction and communication skills
o Social understanding and economic and leadership skills
o International outlook and global responsibility

These learning outcomes are mainly to be achieved integrated within the study units and theses, not in specialized courses. In practice, this means that these skills should be included at least in the degrees’ learning outcomes but preferably in the learning outcomes of study modules and courses as well. This requires new kind of leadership from faculties and collaboration between teachers to ensure that all the skills are gained in a meaningful way from the courses and that they develop as the student furthers theirs studies. This requires competency-based curriculum planning that is done in co-operation between all the teachers of the degree. A problem that arises here is how to ensure that all degrees really consider these generic skills when they are planning the curriculum for the degree? Another problem that arises is how to ensure flexible study paths and at the same time makes sure that each student develops these working life skills? For these issues we in the support services are planning some actions.

References:
[1] Clarke, M. (2018) Rethinking graduate employability: the role of capital, individual attributes and context, Studies in Higher Education, 43:11, 1923-1937.
[2] Crebert, G., Bates, M., Bell, B., Patrick, C-J. & Cragnolini, V. 2004. Developing generic skills at university, during work placement and in employment: graduates’ perceptions. Higher Education Research & Development, Vol. 23, No. 2, May 2004, 147–165.
[3] Suleman, F. 2016. Employability skills of higher education graduates: Little concensus on a much-discussed subject. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 228 (2016) 169 – 174.

Keywords:

Higher education, competency-based education, transferable skills, working life skills, Tampere University, higher education community of Tampere, curriculum.