Domain Applications of Project Management Knowledge (DAPMK): Beneficial Knowledge Transfer and Soft Skill Development for Life-long Enhancement

The focus of higher education in the developed economies of the Global North has steadily shifted since the 1970s from being dominantly rooted in academic knowledge and learning as an end in themselves towards a wider perspective. The needs of the professions, careers and employability were present then, but were generally a secondary concern for the HEIs. The expansion of HE across more diverse populations has produced successive changes in curriculum and more broadly in purposes, strategies, and philosophies of HE. Against the background of global, economic, societal, and technological changes, the need to maintain ‘traditions’ but with wider relevance to society, personal adaptability, and capability as well as support for lifelong careers and learning have come to impact, HE main agendas. Most undertakings in life require the ability to define requirements, shape responses and form processes which will lead to achieving desired goals. In short, this is the nature of ‘project’ as a concept and of project management as a means to undertake what is necessary. This paper reports on how the concepts and techniques of Project Management (PM) can be beneficially transferred in a process of soft skill development for life-long enhancement in the transitions from HE to employability and career. A project was set up at University of West London as part of their knowledge transfer activities. The researchers have established ‘proof of concept’ and are currently trialling pathways for providing learning opportunities with knowledge transfer and soft skill enhancement. The opportunity to adapt the root concepts of PM to any domain carries enormous potential for enhancing HE outcomes and for wider continuing education and skills development across communities.