Accrediting Competency for Future Readiness

Higher education institutions are key players in the nurturing of students’ holistic competencies (HCs) – the different transferable skills, positive values and attitudes crucial to their employability and whole-person development (https://have.hku.hk/). A recent report (Chan, 2021) found that a majority of employers actively seek evidence of students’ HCs during the hiring process, such as by looking at work and extra-curricular experiences on the latter’s resumes. However, graduates have been falling short of employers’ expectations of HC attainments, which could be due to students’ overconfidence in their abilities, the lack of ways to evaluate HC development, and insufficient understandings of employer expectations (Chan et al., 2017; Stewart et al., 2016; Twenge et al., 2012).

There is a pressing need to bridge the gap between students’ HCs and the demands of the job market. In light of this, a Holistic Competencies Roadmap is now being built as an important, ground-breaking tool to help students understand and evaluate their own competencies. This roadmap will help them track their HCs development over time, identify both strengths and weaknesses, and give customised recommendations to help improve their various competencies. By also integrating employer expectations into the roadmap, students can better explore suitable career options and tailor their own learning journeys to achieve their goals.

This roadmap will be supported by and complement the work of the International Holistic Competency Foundation (IHCF; https://www.ihcfoundation.net/), a newly launched initiative to formally integrate HCs into educational courses, providing accreditation and quality assurance to courses looking to explicitly target competencies development (Chan & Chen, 2021). Together, these tools and resources will advance HCs development and assessment in higher education, as well as guide and enrich students’ own growth to better prepare them for their future careers.

Belonging, Being, and Becoming: Exploring Possible Selves through the Transitions into, Through, and Beyond Higher Education

Most students start university during their ’emerging adulthood’ developmental stage, a time when they are exploring who they are, and who they want to be. The changed lifestyle and new social groups that they encounter on the transition to university can open up new reflections on their current identity, and on who they might become in the future. Applying the theoretical perspectives of social identity theory and possible selves theory, Julie will introduce us to new ways of motivating students and thinking about graduate employability through facilitating students to explore new possible selves within the classroom and curriculum.

Biography

Prof. Cecilia K. Y. CHAN

Prof. Cecilia Chan is the Professor in the Faculty of Education and Associate Director at the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, the University of Hong Kong (HKU). She has a dual-discipline background with expertise in both engineering and education, particularly higher education; she plays a key role in enhancing engineering and science education, as well as teaching and learning in higher education. Her combined expertise in these fields have enabled her to lead and conduct research on topics such as assessment and feedback, experiential learning, technology-enhanced learning particularly artificial intelligence in education, and the development and assessment of 21st century skills (holistic competencies) from East to West.

Prof. Chan has been invited as a keynote speaker and panel speaker at many international conferences, including the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She holds a PhD in Engineering from Trinity College, and a postgraduate diploma and MA in Higher Education. She also holds a Fellowship from King College London and is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Prof. Chan is involved in over 40 research projects (with 5 GRFs awarded by the Education panel). She received the HKU Young Outstanding Researcher Award in 2014-15 and more recently, the Faculty Knowledge Exchange award. She is the President of the Asian Society for Engineering Education and associate editor for both the Journal of Engineering Education and Studies in Educational Evaluation.

Prof. Chan has developed student-centred frameworks, instruments, and practical approaches to promote competencies development, and is a pioneer in the investigation of competencies assessment literacy. Her work is being employed around the world and also being adopted by software companies. She has received industry donations and UGC matching funds to support her work in this area as she continues to work closely with organisations worldwide to promote holistic competencies development.

Professor Julie HULME

Professor Julie Hulme is a UK National Teaching Fellow and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. A psychologist, she aims to make a difference within higher education through applying psychological theories to researching and enhancing inclusion within higher education settings. Julie’s work recognises the importance of belonging to learning and teaching, for both staff and students, and seeks to help both individuals and institutions to create learning environments which foster a sense of community and social engagement for everyone. In so doing, Julie seeks to develop students’ employability and success in graduate employment. Her most recent research has focused on the experiences of disabled students at university, bullying in higher education, student transitions, and facilitating innovation as a way of promoting inclusion and teaching excellence. An experienced university teacher, educational leader, and academic developer, Julie is Professor of Psychology Education at Nottingham Trent University, UK.