In 2014, the ‘Erasmus Impact Study’ (EIS) sought to answer the question of whether or not studies and internships abroad are beneficial to university students’ employability. Following quantitative and qualitative studies of 56,733 students and 652 European employers, EIS reached (among others) the following major conclusions relevant for this project proposal (edited and summarized): On average, 92% of employers are looking for transversal skills/soft skills in the people they recruit, such as openness to and curiosity about new challenges, problem-solving and decision-making skills, confidence and tolerance towards other people's personal values and behaviors. EIS also found that the transversal skills/soft skills important to employers also are skills that improve during studies abroad. 81% of the students in the study perceived an improvement in their transversal skills when they came back, and 52% showed an increase in actual skills (as measured by Memo© Mobility Scan). In short, studies abroad seem to provide training in exactly the type of transversal/soft skills that employers value. However, the study ‘Hidden Competences’ (2014) from the Finnish National Agency for Education (also cited by EIS), emphasized that this connection might not always be automatic, nor guaranteed. The study reached the conclusion that while skills and knowledge that result from international experiences are the kind of competences that the labor market needs, employers do not necessarily make the connection between study abroad experiences, and acquisition of these specific skills. In 2019, LinkedIn's "Global Talent Trends 2019 Report" seems to confirm these conclusions. The report states that 92% of 5000 recruiters say that Soft Skills "matter as much or more than hard skills when they hire", but also that "most companies still struggle to assess them accurately". This "growing disconnect between the demand for Soft Skills and the inability to identify them" leads the LinkedIn report to call Soft Skill "what everyone wants, but no one knows how to find". In light of this, the SkillMill Project aims to increase the synergy between Study Abroad Offices and Career Services, offer a structured approach to Soft Skills development during studies abroad, and ways to communicate these skills to recruiters. To achieve this, this project aims to launch an Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic Partnership in a collaboration between Study Abroad Offices and Career Services, and develop an innovative Digital Learning Toolkit. Targeting Soft Skills specifically, the aim is to provide exchange students with the following: ∟ Knowledge in what soft skills are, and in which contexts they develop. ∟ Understanding of which specific Soft Skills employers value, and why. ∟ Insight in specific contexts one may encounter during studies abroad, in and outside of school, which may provide learning opportunities for soft skills. ∟ Theoretical tools to conceptualize and connect one’s own actual experiences during studies abroad, to relevant soft skill development. ∟ Guidance in how to package and communicate these experiences, insights and personal developments narratively, in a way that is beneficial in a recruitment situation. To summarize, the goal of the project is to give exchange students insight into their own soft skills development, and raise their ability to communicate it, on order to maximize the benefit of their study abroad experiences in recruitment situations. Over the course of three years, experts in career counselling and skill recognition, studies abroad as well as media production and digital learning will: ∟ Create a written "Soft Skills Insight and Communication Guide" ∟ Exchange ideas and feedback with stakeholders ∟ Oversee the turning of the "Guide" into a digital learning toolkit by a Technical Team ∟ Oversee the implementation/testing of the learning tool on outgoing exchange students ∟ Oversee the evaluation of these students' developed Soft Skills and Communication Skills ∟ Implement the "Toolkit" into their organizations The finished digital Soft Skills Insight and Communication learning toolkit will be provided free of charge to any organization or individual who wishes to use it.
By implementing the SkillMill project, we sought to: 1) Collect best practices and information resources to identify exactly 'which' soft skills are sought after by employers and why, and consolidate an updated soft skills taxonomy for study abroad. 2) Collect best practices in career counselling and create a learning pathway that helps students to identify 'when' soft skills are trained during study abroad, 'which' skills are actually trained, and 'how' to express these gains in an employment context. 3) Implement this skills taxonomy and learning pathway in a digital, interactive learning toolkit that empowers students to become familiar with these skills, find relevant learning experiences in their international studies, match experiences to relevant skills and compile fully verbalised skills portfolios from their mobilities.
The development of key transversal skills has long been seen as an important added benefit of study abroad. The Erasmus Impact Study (2019) confirmed, after studies on more than 75 000 mobile students, that mobile students indeed do develop key career competences such as communication skills, resilience and adaptability to a higher degree than non-mobile peers do. However, already in 2014 did the Finnish Education Agency identify, in the report ‘Hidden Skills’, that recognition of such skills by employers is far from automatic, indicating that the burden of proof falls on the graduate to clearly express precisely what transversal skills have been gained by international study experiences, and how these may benefit an employer. This issue proves pervasive, as stated by the newly released European Skills Agenda for 2025, which highlights transversal skills as something often developed outside school and throughout life, making them difficult to identify, understand and express, urging higher education institutions to address this dynamic. The SkillMill project has sought to address this need for new pedagogics by developing new ways to empower students to identify, understand and express their transversal skill gains.