Lifelong Learning: Developing Transferable Skills in Higher Education

Rethink how skills are surfaced and recognised in higher education

A university degree signals knowledge, but does it clearly communicate what a learner can actually do?

As employability expectations evolve, higher education is being challenged to better articulate the skills students develop throughout their studies. Yet many of these capabilities remain hidden, difficult to evidence, or inconsistently recognised.

This course invites you to rethink how skills are understood, surfaced, and valued within higher education.

Rather than redesigning curricula, it explores how existing teaching and learning already develop meaningful capabilities, and how these can be made more visible.

These skills develop across higher education, from first-year assessment through to placements, capstones, postgraduate study, professional learning, and workplace-connected projects. While disciplines differ, the challenge is shared: helping learners recognise, evidence, and communicate what they can do. ###Move beyond the degree as a signal of capability

Higher education is increasingly shifting from a focus on subject knowledge to demonstrable skills and outcomes.

You’ll explore the implications of that shift, examining lifelong learning as a non-linear and cumulative process rather than a single endpoint.

Sharpen the skills already embedded in teaching for transformative results

Many of the most valuable skills developed in higher education are not explicitly named or recognised.

This short course explores how transferable and durable skills are embedded within subject-level teaching, and how skills literacy can be developed as a capability in its own right.

Strengthen how skills are evidenced and recognised

Lastly, you’ll explore the difference between strong and weak signals of skill, and how recognition practices can better reflect real capability.

This course is designed for higher education educators, learning designers, academic developers, employability practitioners, and leaders interested in making capability more visible through curriculum, assessment, and learner experience design. It’s ideal for those looking to support students to better articulate, evidence, and recognise the skills developed through university study.

What skills will you develop?

Through this course, you will develop skills aligned with employability and lifelong learning frameworks such as NACE, AAC&U, OECD, and the World Economic Forum Education 4.0 taxonomy.

You will build skills in:

Skills identification and analysis: recognising transferable skills already embedded in learning, assessment, and learner experience.

Skills communication and articulation: describing skills and capability clearly for learners, educators, employers, and other stakeholders.

Evidence-informed judgement: distinguishing between general claims of skill and credible, usable evidence of capability.

Reflective learning design: creating simple prompts and routines that help learners recognise, evidence, and translate what they can do.

This course is designed for higher education educators, learning designers, academic developers, employability practitioners, and leaders interested in making capability more visible through curriculum, assessment, and learner experience design. It’s ideal for those looking to support students to better articulate, evidence, and recognise the skills developed through university study.

What skills will you develop?

Through this course, you will develop skills aligned with employability and lifelong learning frameworks such as NACE, AAC&U, OECD, and the World Economic Forum Education 4.0 taxonomy.

You will build skills in:

Skills identification and analysis: recognising transferable skills already embedded in learning, assessment, and learner experience.

Skills communication and articulation: describing skills and capability clearly for learners, educators, employers, and other stakeholders.

Evidence-informed judgement: distinguishing between general claims of skill and credible, usable evidence of capability.

Reflective learning design: creating simple prompts and routines that help learners recognise, evidence, and translate what they can do.

• Explain lifelong learning in higher ed contexts, including the hidden skills curriculum and the role of skills literacy
• Identify transferable skills within everyday teaching and learning activities and curriculum
• Apply skills-based language to describe learning as clear, evidence-informed capability
• Design simple reflection routines that help students recognise, articulate and evidence their skills
• Evaluate skill descriptions to distinguish between general statements and credible, usable evidence of capability
• Explore how making learning visible and credible supports the recognition of skills within and beyond the learning experience