Skills in European Higher Education Mobility Programmes: Outlining a Conceptual Framework
Authors
García Esteban, SorayaIdentifiers
Permanent link (URI): http://hdl.handle.net/10017/49390DOI: 10.1108/HESWBL-09-2019-0111
ISSN: 2042-3896
Date
2020-03-07Bibliographic citation
Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 2020, v. 10, n. 3, p. 519-539
Keywords
Skill frameworks
European higher education area (EHEA)
Credit mobility
Employability
Document type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Access rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Abstract
Purpose Credit mobility has been acknowledged not only to broaden personal and intellectual horizons but
also to have positive effects on the skills development and employability of undergraduate students.
Academics, policymakers and organizations representing the labour market have presented a broad number of
skills-related explorations proposing different frameworks to help develop students" skills. However, the
identification of explicit skills is still a difficult endeavour. This study aims to revise main conceptual skills
frameworks applicable in the European higher education area (EHEA), determine the skills relevant in
European credit mobility and categorize skills among the examined schemes in order to create a normative
model of the skills students should obtain in exchange programmes.
Design/methodology/approach – The approach used to identify related literature was a search in three
main databases such as Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar for scientific and relevant articles after
1990 using the following combination of keywords: 'skill frameworks” AND 'higher education” OR 'skill
frameworks” AND 'mobility exchange programs”. It produced 391 articles but only 32 deal with skill
frameworks in European higher education. After the review of these existing literature (summaries, tables and
conclusions), we found out that most articles focused on specific skills (transferable, employable, etc.) in the
EHEA, but merely 16 academic publications offered a complete depiction of skills frameworks applicable in
credit mobility programs. Most current accounts about skills outlines, specifically the ones related to
employability, come from grey literature, namely comprehensive records and reports.
Findings – Data seem to confirm that there is scarce agreement on a common taxonomy of skills. However,
considering the results, which summarize relevant educational, institutional and occupational perspectives, it
can be noticed that there is consensus on the classification of only four skills: ICT, literacy and numeracy, which
are considered basic, key or core skills in most researched papers together with problem solving, which is
generally regarded as a cognitive skill. The general tendency is that policymakers and academia focus on some
particular domains: basic/key, core/global foundation/fundamental skills, transferable, transversal and other
skills. Studies analysing the workforce skill requirements have projected mainly cognitive and learning skills,
whereas mobility programmes concede relevance to employability, management, career and life skills.
Research limitations/implications – Measuring skills involves limitations as records vary depending on
continuous emerging data from institutions, occupations and education. The key frameworks surveyed have
provided a representative classification and depiction of the current skills from specific perspectives which are
also believed to have their shortcomings. In combination, however, it is believed that the results presented can
help provide a theoretical basis for assessing skills in credit mobility and Erasmus programmes within the
EHEA. The resulting framework presents a founded basis for skills appraisal which expects to be meaningful
for various stakeholders and helps determine how mobility policies can help improve the attainment of skills in
the EHEA.
Practical implications – Research has suggested that education systems will have to adapt to the changing
needs of the labour markets" reshaping roles to balance technology and human intellect. The workforce seems
to realize that cognitive skills such as problem solving, organization and decision-making are needed in today"s
society; advanced basic learning skills such as numeracy and literacy are essential. Findings appoint to new
areas for exploration in skills development in order to prepare European higher education students for current
trends in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the fusion between digital, physical and biological spheres
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