Employability Skills

Technology has been responsible for the digitisation and automation of routine jobs. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) this trend is likely to continue into more technical or sophisticated work. This gives rise to the question; how can graduates and employees ensure they have a job in the future? A precondition for understanding lifelong learning is to clarify what kind of learning may take place throughout an employee’s career. This paper explores the concepts of employability skills, soft skills, and 21st century skills in an effort to identify where particularly human skills will still be essential. After reviewing research in the area of employability skills, mainly from a labour market perspective, the paper goes on to contextualise the training and development of employability skills in higher education. Following that, reasons for developing and introducing employability skills modules in higher education are discussed and based on the literature, recommendations are made for higher education institutions, tutors, students, and employees.