1 Introduction

As the future needs of the global economy change it is imperative that educationalists must also adapt and identify what has to be achieved to equip students with Future Skills and attributes that are fit for purpose. It is important to develop critical thinking, problem solving, ethical skills and competencies that they will need to lead and manage the innovations of the future.

Critical thinking, for instance, calls for a persistent effort to analyse and evaluate any form of knowledge, belief or experience that leads to reasoning and decision-making (Ehlers, 2020). Reasoning, sensemaking and, further, problem-solving draw on individuals’ existing understandings, worldviews, and collaborative interactions (Muñiz, 2020), with the purpose to create new meanings that ultimately lead to innovation. The development of these cognitive skills will be on a continuous growth curve as the student moves through higher education.

This chapter explores the cognitive, collaborative and ethical skills that the future higher education student will need to develop. It illustrates some learning methods that may be critical to developing Future Skills. The study adopts a qualitative research approach: (1) a case study at a public university business school in Romania with participation of students in a master course of Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Business Development, and (2) a discourse on the importance of ensuring that nursing students gain ethical knowing whilst completing a BSc in Nursing, in Ireland. The chapter introduces good practice examples of alternative teaching and learning methods that support the development of student Future Skills, through discussions, reflections, cooperative efforts, and collaborative practical work. Awareness is also placed on how students encourage the making of associations between problem, place, entrepreneurship, and ethical knowledge. The knowledge presented in this paper has been gleaned from a case study based on practice and a reflection on gaining competent knowledge within an ethical framework. The expansion of both of those areas is an example of development and knowledge-building in specific areas of expertise. However, upon reflection, lessons can be learned that can be replicated in other areas of education.

The chapter is structured as follows: the coming section introduces an operational definition of the term ‘Future Skills’ and its structural components. Sects. 12.3 and 12.4 illustrate how development of cognitive and ethical skills is sustained in two different situations, one practical and the other reflective. Practical implications and further recommendations regarding implementation of Future Skills in practice follow.

2 Future Skills Meaning and Understanding

Promoting and acknowledging the importance of cognitive, socio-emotional and ethical skills to student success is paramount to higher education governing policies, educational leaders and legislators (Portela-Pino et al., 2021; Radwan et al., 2021; Torrence et al., 2017). These are evolutionary components of the Future Skills framework for future higher education created by Ehlers (2020), which beg the question as to how educators, students or researchers examine and make sense of new concepts, new phenomena, or new policies.

As the future needs of society change, it is imperative that higher education institutions must prop students to become self-directed learners, engage in knowledge exchange and work collaboratively in an ethical manner. The knowledge gained through self-learning, exchange and collective work will assist the student with clearer thinking and logical reasoning, including self-reflection and an opportunity to practice those skills within the confines of an academic institution. These practices can encompass real-life problem-solving, role-play and various case scenarios, under the watchful eye of accredited educators. Therefore, gaining cognitive independence becomes critical to skill development success (Espinoza Freire, 2021). Rouleau and Balogun (2011) claimed that critical thinking and sensemaking skills for middle managers underpin discursive competence and lie in an intimate knowledge of the setting and a good understanding of multiple interactions. As such, relational context and collaborative mindsets are very important (Hendarwati et al., 2021).

Moreover, ethical competence has an emerging requisite to be embedded in all higher education programmes in the twenty-first century. It begs the question as to what we understand by being ethically competent. Underpinning this concept is the “human quest for knowledge and action that defines right and wrong behaviour” (Menzel, 2016, p. 4). Ethical competence is an attractive, powerful, and promising concept, with several advantages for research and practice (Schrijver & Maesschalk, 2013 in Cooper & Menzel, 2013) and is also a fundamental but complex concept for learning (Dierckx de Casterlé et al., 2008). Most ethical competencies have arisen mainly from healthcare ethics (Koskenvuori et al., 2019). These comprise character strength, ethical awareness, moral judgement skills and the willingness to do good (Kulju et al., 2016).

Following the preceding conceptions and ideas, the current chapter describes Future Skills as a term that encompasses three types of skills: (1) cognitive independence (such as critical thinking, logical reasoning, sensemaking, decision-making, problem-solving skills), (2) collaborative (relational) and (3) ethical skills (Fig. 12.1). Accordingly, Future Skills integrate those competencies that enable individuals to independently and flexibly use their knowledge to meet complex demands and handle compound situations, whilst thinking and working in an ethical manner, adhering to a code of practice. These Future Skills are aimed to increase employees’ prospects for success, being more adaptable to increasing complexity of their work.

Fig. 12.1
A triangle named future skills has three blocks named ethical skills, collaborative skills and cognitive independence, at the corners.

Future Skills conceptualization

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3 Blending Problem-Based Learning with Place-Based Education to Develop Cognitive Independence

3.1 Developing Cognitive and Collaborative Skills in Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship education has rapidly emerged as a topic of high importance in multiple domains of knowledge in higher education institutions and continues to have a significant role for promoting job creation, innovation and the growth of national economies (Mohamed & Sheikh Ali, 2021). Higher education institutions are striving to equip their graduates with entrepreneurial skills that will elevate their capacity to pursue a self-employment career (Rasiah et al., 2019), whilst also developing students’ capabilities to become future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large (Igwe et al., 2021). Developing entrepreneurship and other future work-ready skills, for enhancing entrepreneurial intentions of students to start successful businesses, raises continuous challenges. As such, the physical closure of higher education institutions due to COVID-19 shed a brighter light on the need to implement alternative teaching pedagogies (Morgado et al., 2021) that allow the Future Skills development in an online or a blended learning context. An earlier work of Sánchez Contreras and Murga Menoyo (2019) stressed the importance of adopting adequate learning methods that support the students’ acquisition of meaningful abilities and skills, but also values and characteristics of a citizenship consciously and actively committed to the great challenges posed by the existing socio-ecological crises. A hybrid system that combines online Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and onsite Place-Based Entrepreneurial Learning (PBEL) can be considered a viable setting for developing Future Skills when utilized within the specific context of entrepreneurship education. A recent work published by Wong and Kan (2022) stressed that PBL is an effective teaching pedagogy for knowledge acquisition and cognitive skill development (such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and logical reasoning), encouraging students to become self-directed learners, exchange knowledge and work collaboratively. Also, Takano’s (2022) study outlined the importance of gaining learning and developing sensemaking skills through participation in meaning-making processes and by being exposed to real-life contexts, as this proved to have an impactful result in practice later.

Real-life problem-solving and collaborative skills are essential and valuable in entrepreneurship education. Problem-Based Learning is a broadly used pedagogical method to encourage interactivity, stimulate learning, construct reasoning, improve the learning outcomes and enhance the overall student’s experience (Espinoza Freire, 2021; Wang et al., 2021). The collaborative, sensemaking, and problem-solving skills are very important Future Skills for students, necessary to organize the division of tasks in solving entrepreneurial problems, and work on solutions jointly and innovatively (Hendarwati et al., 2021).

The switch to online or blended learning due to the coronavirus pandemic stressed the need for inventing new combinations of alternative teaching pedagogies that enhance lifelong learning. One solution is online PBL. Recent research (Wong & Kan, 2022) found that online PBL stimulates self-directed and collaborative learning and knowledge-sharing behaviour of students that consequently lead to enhanced problem-solving skills. Yet, current studies uncovered that the students’ engagement in offline and online PBL did not show significant difference (Kristianto & Gandajaya, 2022). This is possible when using the PBL approach, as it requires the students to be actively engaged in gaining and exchanging knowledge to advance meanings, while collaboratively working in teams and interacting with their peers and educators.

The concept of Place-Based Entrepreneurial Education was established only recently, the intention being to develop entrepreneurship education that takes the environmental, cultural, socio-economic, and political challenges of a place into account (Sesigür & Edeer, 2020; Wright et al., 2021). It blends Place-Based Learning and Problem-Based Learning within the entrepreneurship educational settings and context of university to develop student skills that matter. Yet, the importance of place for entrepreneurship education has received little attention by higher education institutions (Larty, 2021). There is still a lot of work to do in connecting students to places and engaging them in understanding the relationship between entrepreneurship, local communities, and their challenges within the entrepreneurship curriculum. Recent research by LaDuca et al. (2020) exemplifies how universities use place-based community engagement in developing student reasoning and sensemaking skills, by extending partnerships with communities that create meanings and make sense to address critical twenty-first-century challenges. They showed that applied creativity and transdisciplinarity acted as valuable ingredients in fostering reciprocal partnerships, aimed at creating value, benefits and a long-term impact for all involved. Cincera et al.’s (2019) study stressed that Placed-Based Education in programmes for sustainable development increased the teachers’ self-effectiveness, developed the students’ socio-emotional competence, and improved the atmosphere at the schools involved. Also, research by Thomas (2020) showed that place-based inquiry situated in the students’ outdoor surroundings can provide high relevance in classrooms for critical skill development, by connecting the curriculum content that can be highly standardized with the systemic dilemmas that challenge communities.

The coming section of the paper illustrates how the theoretical approaches underpinning the PBL and PBEL methods sustain the development of cognitive and collaborative skills as Future Skills required in entrepreneurship education. These are valuable Future Skills in other areas of education alike.

3.2 Reshaping Learning Methods in Entrepreneurship Education

To foster innovation and allow future skill development, higher education institutions need to internalize new forms of education. These can extend from blended learning, online work, practices with enterprises, volunteering to experiential learning trips among other, as formal practices that engage students in organizations. Students are expected to work closely with the local actors, either public, private sector or civil society, to develop their skills and increase their awareness and understanding of the local place (Sánchez Contreras & Murga Menoyo, 2019). The collaborative work with local actors enables students to develop and practice their entrepreneurial skills in a safe environment and contribute to complex problem solving. In this way, higher education institutions help them secure future entrepreneurial skills and potentially become tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.

An example of a course that offers students opportunities for developing and practicing their cognitive and socio-emotional skills is “Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Business Development (ESBD)”, taught at a public university business school in Romania. The course aims at producing work-ready graduates with entrepreneurial skills. Following a classroom action research approach, ESBD was developed as an intensive five-week graduate course (with four teaching and learning hours per day) aimed at a cohort of business students in the first year of study of their master programme. The course is run in collaboration with partner-companies, communities, or other organizations from the local environment in which the university is embedded. As part of their course assignments, students are demanded to examine, evaluate, and solve a real-life business dilemma defined by the partner-organizations, by employing a Design Thinking methodology (Teodoro, 2021). The learning process considers integration of the interests of all actors involved, use of technology, and the requirement for business success, and uses systemic reasoning, sensemaking and intuition to explore the most desirable alternative solution to the problem.

The ESBD course combines two teaching methods: Place-Based Entrepreneurship Education and (online) Problem-Based Learning. This combination of teaching methods increases the motivation of students, inviting them to become more actively involved in the problem-solving process. Also, it allows them to approach the given situation rigorously and professionally. Additionally, the methodology allows the educators to improve the relevance of teaching by integrating specifics of the place in the learning process. For instance, Wang et al. (2021) found that PBL significantly improved students’ self-learning abilities in the theoretical framework of the course. At the same time, employing PBEL as a teaching method helps the students diagnose the real problem, generate alternative timely solutions and develop concrete action plans that consider the local context.

Working in groups of four to five members, by using their cumulative knowledge and applying the Design Thinking tools, the students can provide creative business solutions to the problem identified. Initially, the students describe the core problem and subsequent relevant issues taking into consideration the existing challenges of the local place. The solutions they come up with latter are framed in a hybrid learning environment that combines online learning for problem explanation and onsite learning for problem exploration and resolution. The collaborative work that the students undertake include successively clarifying priorities, doing required field work, acquiring and exchanging new knowledge, designing creative solutions and developing concrete action plans embedded into the local context (Fig. 12.2).

Fig. 12.2
Two flow diagrams named, 1. Problem based learning and 2. Place based Entrepreneurial learning has four modules each interacting with each other. Item 1 includes, Define the core problem, plan field research, design ideas, and roadmap of solution implementation. Item 2 includes Learn about context, do and document field research, co create ideas, and co design and deliver the business plan.

Learning Method Design

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Educators play a facilitating role aimed at supporting and guiding students with their learning, more deeply and effectively, through their individual study and peer-to-peer interaction in a group. Partner organizations support the field research with real-time feedback, data collection, interviews, and validation of the intermediary and final results. Five to six different real-life scenarios are developed each academic year and the students, as teams, traverse the real factory virtually and/or onsite to assess the situation. The live online classes are carried out both via the PBL approach and via teacher-based methods by using the Zoom application. Group work for problem definition and solution generation is organized using breakout rooms.

The employment of online PBL combined with onsite PBEL demonstrated the improvement of students’ self-directed learning, for which they were willing to take full responsibility, which led to improved critical thinking, logical reasoning and decision-making skills. These are skills that characterize cognitive independence (Espinoza Freire, 2021). Moreover, the students’ problem-solving abilities improved through the well-planned intervention of both educators and local partners, containing clear guidelines for student learning and their involvement during the process, and through regular group discussions held via various channels (Wong & Kan, 2022). Students generally reported positively on the use of a blended learning environment. Also, students found that while teachers were indispensable to implementation of the PBL process, the local partners played a key role in helping students understand the PBEL context.

There were some tension points reported in the integration of the learning principles of PBL along the different phases of PBL, given the variety of students’ individual preferences, learning priorities, or understandings of the topic. These were mainly reported during the group formation and distribution of tasks, problem definition and analysis, and alternative solution prioritization. Other research also reported similar obstacles (Hermann et al., 2022). Additional tensions were registered during the validation of the learning insights gained as a result of the PBEL exploration process. To tackle these tensions, the teachers suggested early integration of formative feedback in every step of the learning process and progressive problem analysis and resolution. All the above highlights the importance of learning principles in relation to PBL. However, it is also imperative that those principles are grounded in ethical knowledge which lends itself to ethical knowing.

4 Developing Ethical Competence

4.1 Conceptual Understanding in Nursing Ethics Education

Ethics education reflects on ethical decision-making, professional and research practices (Torrence et al., 2017). Ethics as a discipline addresses moral issues at the junctures of health care delivery, medical, nursing and health research, technological advancement, and environmental studies, to name a few. Access to ethics training is important for all future and practicing professionals. Nurses, for instance, should be well versed in the ethical implications of their actions as clinicians (Purtilo & Doherty, 2011). Nursing is a practice-based discipline and clinical placement is a vital part of nursing education in Bachelor programmes (Plathe et al., 2021). Advances in health science and technology have led to profound changes in nursing practice and nursing education (Park, 2012). Nurses, in delivering care for patients, resort to their ethical knowing. It is well recognised in educating nurses that they must be also prepared to be ethically competent in their practice and decisions making (Park et al., 2009; Ujvarine, 2008). A nurse develops over time in their role as a responsible health care professional (Fowler & Tschudin, 2006). At times there may be a lack of critical reflection amongst students. At all times, critical reflection must be nurtured and encouraged.

The prerequisites for ethical competence such as professional virtues and ethical knowledge (Robichaux, 2016) is inherent in the skills deemed necessary to be taught to higher education students. Knowledge regarding ethical concepts and ethical knowing has enormous benefits for instructional effectiveness (Watts et al., 2017). An example of such a programme will focus on theoretical concepts such as ethical reflection and ethical decision-making (Lechasseur et al., 2018) amongst other skills such as analysis and judgement (Paganini & Yoshikawa Egry, 2011). The work will have a Future Skills profile as ethical leadership is needed to be at the forefront for an ever-changing future society. It is essential that the graduate of the future has the critical skills and knowledge to make decisions based on ethical reasoning. It is envisaged that a specific purpose module in ethical competences will ensure that the participants of an educational programme will acquire the essential components of ethical competence and awareness whilst ensuring that they safeguard the vulnerable in society. This is already embodied within the discipline of nursing and could also be replicated by other disciplines within higher level education.

Education in ethics (reasoning) and values (ideals) is important in every phase of life (Nirupama & D’Souza, 2021; Singh & Stückelberger, 2017). The development of ethical reasoning in an individual is essential to the development of society (Simkins & Steinkuehler, 2008). More importantly, ethics underpins how we live and treat each other. All educational institutions have the responsibility to educate their students in an ethical way. Socrates placed emphasis on ethics as a branch of philosophy that dealt with morality and stressed that it was more important than a religious, moral, or legal concept (Wilberding, 2014).

The idea of ethical competency development also involves acknowledging multiple perspectives, whilst allowing for deeper reflection upon an individual’s ethical values (Ward, 2020). In teaching ethics, it is important to reflect on different backgrounds and be respectful of different cultures. Cultural competence is important in relation to ethics. Deardorff (2006) defined intercultural competence as “the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (pp. 247–248). He also reflected on the personality component in the definition with emphasis placed on openness to and respect for other cultures. This is essential in the ethical component of educational programmes.

The importance of research ethics training has led academic institutions to require that students obtain such training at various stages of their careers (Ahmed & Nebeker, 2021). This also extends to other ways of knowing regarding ethics and ensuring that there is an increased awareness around the value of ethics education. Resilience and mindfulness were positively correlated with moral competence and work engagement with reference to the use of experiential discovery learning practices and high-fidelity simulation (Rushton et al., 2021). This assists in empowering individuals and building their confidence to assist them in making sound ethical decisions.

4.2 Teaching and Learning Approach in Nursing Education to Support Ethical Skills Development

Theoretical concepts underpinning key ethical theories with specific reference to various disciplines ought to be embedded in all undergraduate programmes. Critical reflection and the utilisation of ethical knowledge is evident and documented in various tertiary modules that will equip the student with the appropriate skills for the future in dealing with complex issues. An example of the format for teaching ethics is undergraduate nurses completing a BSc in Nursing in Ireland. It is taught in year one where the student works on specific ethical concepts, year two on their application, with years three and four critically reviewing, analysing and synthesizing the concepts and merging the theory into practice. The students are supported by having the concepts explored in a simulation laboratory. It can also be brought into the concept of Problem-Based Learning such as devising a simulation within a lab scenario and giving challenges for the student to solve. This is then reviewed, so that the students demonstrate the necessary knowledge, skills and ethical competences in the area. This in line with the Quality and Qualifications Ireland accreditation (QQI, 2022).

There are opportunities to practice ethical competence with other disciplines. Another practical example may be through the development of e-health. According to the eHealth Action Plan 2012–2020 of the European Commission (2012), “eHealth can benefit citizens, patients, health and care professionals but also health organisations and public authorities. eHealth—when applied effectively—delivers more personalised ‘citizen-centric’ healthcare, which is more targeted, effective and efficient and helps reduce errors, as well as the length of hospitalisation. It facilitates socio-economic inclusion and equality, quality of life and patient empowerment through greater transparency, access to services and information and the use of social media for health”. The Faculties of Engineering (Designing the Technology), Science (Exact recordings to be taken), Business (Budgets and costings) and Healthcare (Interpretation of results) can be all involved in reviewing the ethical issues underpinning these concepts. This, too, can be taught in a simulation lab and reviewed by a panel of experts as part of an overall assessment.

It is not unusual to witness a lack of critical reflection amongst students (Benner, 2012). This must also be taught with an ethical component. Strengthening cognitive skills and reflection strategies within a programme can be effective and a robust approach to learning (Ravik, 2020). It also lends itself to teaching ethics. The concept of scaffolding plays a crucial role in shaping the quality of classroom learning with the utilisation of a classroom discourse analysis approach as shown by Li and Zhang (2022) with a different topic.

Enriching skills with reference to ethics and ethical conflict also needs to focus on enabling inclusiveness and empower individuals with the right ability so that they can make decisions based on evidence. Ethical conflict such as moral uncertainty, moral dilemma, moral distress and moral outrage (Falcó-Pegueroles et al., 2015) must be discussed and developed within a case scenario. An ethical conflict is defined as a problem that arises when one senses that the idea of “good,” “right” or “doing the right thing” with reference to other people’s best interests are being compromised (Falcó-Pegueroles et al., 2016). Influences such as e-health and digitalisation have an impact on education in relation to ethics. Scenarios inclusive of these topics need to be developed and embedded in third-level education. Codes of ethics and malpractice law must also review computer software recognising that professional ethics of software developers are scrutinized within the classification of computing as a profession under U.S. tort law (Choi, 2021). In principle, a module is developed throughout each year of an undergraduate programme. As the student progresses through the programme, their knowledge is built upon in line with the National Qualifications Framework which allows for levels of education from level 6 to level 10 (see www.qqi.ie).

Ethical challenges in practice affect frontline nurses, which can undermine safety, quality, and compassionate care (Rushton et al., 2021). For instance, the key elements that underpin professional conduct and ethics for Registered Nurses and Registered Midwives in Ireland are respect for the dignity of the person, professional responsibility and accountability, quality of practice, trust and confidentiality and collaboration with others (NMBI, 2021). These principles are taught in each year of the undergraduate nursing programme and built upon inclusive of various legislative frameworks in line with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Educators, in imparting ethical knowing, may use a framework to teach and assess the range of critical knowledge and skills for ethical decision-making. Ethics education in nursing should promote the development of moral sensitivity amongst reasoning skills based on codes of ethics, ethical principles, and professional responsibilities (Gastmans, 2002; Jaeger, 2001; NMBI, 2021). The Ethical Competence Framework (Berghofer & Schwartz, 2011) is also a tool that may assist educators, and the use of experiential discovery and simulation scenarios can be effective in addressing moral adversity (Rushton & Sharma, 2018). It may also provide a rigorous assessment tool that can improve the understanding for what is required to achieve and gain ethical competence. Findings from research by Koskenvuori et al. (2019) revealed that healthcare professionals’ ethical competence is a limited research area in relation to assessing conceptualization, measuring, and realization of the ethical competence. An example of instruments to measure ethical competence in terms of moral competence is offered by Asahara et al. (2015). Reflection on and in practice is very important to ensure that competent caring practitioners work in a professional manner. Therefore, allocating time during a working schedule on reflection is vital.

5 Challenges and Practical Implications

The COVID-19 pandemic has demanded changes to students’ learning experiences and Future Skills development across all domains of knowledge. The jobs and companies of the future might not have yet been created, but there is a need to understand what will be necessary for a graduate to be considered qualified in the future. Higher education is very beneficial to any country’s economic and societal development, accompanied with a demand for financial and productivity accountability (Waller et al., 2019). Higher education students are expecting to be engaged in learning environments that better acquaint them not only with discipline-specific concepts and principles, but more importantly, with relevant practices and competencies regarded essential for their future (Kruskopf et al., 2021).

Our synopsis informs higher education institution leaders and, particularly, entrepreneurship education faculty about how to explore their own curricula, educational settings, and institution’s context. Also, it encourages educators to explore how Placed-Based Education can combine with Problem-Based Learning to create opportunities to teach students about innovation and develop Future Skills. Although PBL and PBEL have different focuses, their combination can enhance teaching effectiveness in various domains of knowledge and practice. Our methodology was effective in terms of enhancing students’ interest in entrepreneurship and resulted in improved learning, but also in better preparation for the job market. The scenario presented contributes to the debate on Future Skills development within the entrepreneurship education literature. The scenario can also serve as an inspiration for entrepreneurship course designers in higher education, but also for other knowledge areas alike.

From ethical knowledge perspective, the work that the students engage in mirrors what takes place in clinical practice and in real acute hospital and community-based healthcare scenarios. They can utilise an ethical decision-making framework and explore and address relevant ethical issues. The element of reflection and reflective practice can also be utilised to encourage ongoing learning in this field. It is in the interest of everyone to develop an ethical code of professional conduct. It is also vital that empirical evidence is collected regarding ethics education, and that there is a sharing of professionals’ experiences of teaching ethics. Pedagogical research relevant to diverse healthcare professionals will provide essential evidence as to how to teach this so that future generations are grounded in ethical knowing. It is vital that retaining the brightest nurses in the profession is an ethical mandate (Rushton et al., 2021). This is becoming more difficult in an era where nurses are leaving the profession due to the stress of the service demands.

The implications are that unfortunately different countries have different codes of ethics and practices. Implementing one programme across Europe may not suffice but it is important that ethical education respects the rights and dignity of all human beings. Ethics education inherent to upholding research integrity is different to ethical knowing essential for various professional disciplines. It is essential for society that it is taught properly and respectfully in all higher education institutions.

It is extremely important to ensure that the future graduates are competent practitioners, who work in a professional and ethical manner. This can be achieved through participation of the students in meaning-making learning processes and by exposing them to real-life contexts. Moreover, allocating time for reflection during a training course schedule is vital. This time may be challenging to attain in different environments, but students who are afforded this opportunity will perform better. Within a classroom environment, time needs to be allocated to sense-making and reflection. In educational programmes that have a professional qualification along with an academic award, it is imperative that reflection is part of the programme and time is allocated to it in practice.

Future Skills in Practice: Our Recommendations

  • Regardless of the areas of knowledge in higher education, Future Skills should encompass cognitive independence (such as critical thinking, logical reasoning, sensemaking, decision-making, problem-solving skills), collaborative (relational) skills and ethical (character strength, ethical awareness, moral sensitivity, willingness to do good) skills.

  • It is essential that the graduate of the future has the critical skills and knowledge to make decisions based on ethical reasoning.

  • Adopting adequate learning methods (e.g., blended learning, online learning complemented by onsite work), relevant to different areas of education, is crucial to support the students’ acquisition of meaningful abilities and skills.

  • Higher education institutions must encourage students to become self-directed learners, actively engaging in gaining and exchanging knowledge to advance meanings, while collaboratively and flexibly working in teams and interacting with their peers and educators.

  • Higher education institutions must develop students’ Future Skills through their participation in meaning-making processes and by being exposed to real-life contexts.

  • In educational programmes that have a professional qualification along with an academic award, it is imperative that reflection is part of the programme.