With disruption driving workforce changes, human, business and digital skills were now considered foundational for the new economy and ‘ability to learn’ a graduate’s most valuable asset.
LinkedIn Asia Pacific Senior Director Jason Laufer said the company used information from its 650 million members and 1.3 trillion bytes of data to predict future work trends.
He said the world had changed, with people now working to learn, not vice versa.
“Roughly 65% of jobs for the next generation don’t exist today but focusing on the soft skills will help you get the hard skills,” he said.
“Our biggest learning adventure is to ‘unlearn’ – getting rid of our biases to learn new things.”
Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) CEO and Director Katrina Sedgwick said unlearning was critical, but hard to do.
“We need to ensure young people are being trained for the new reality,” she said.
“Successful screen and media production students will find themselves applying their skills on different platforms, to new audiences and industries like mining, gaming, defence and aged care.”
With that in mind, Sedgwick stressed the importance of bringing the Arts to the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
“We have to drive an agenda of STEAM,” she said.
“Breaking down barriers and recognising the value that creative experimentation and innovation can bring is vital.”
Sedgwick’s words echoed with intensity through The Capitol – Melbourne’s treasured landmark, newly transformed by RMIT into a contemporary centre where culture, technology and education could collide.
The Vice-Chancellor said RMIT was leading the way when it came to embedding opportunities for continual re-education and the acquisition of future skills as part of a lifelong education.
“Our microcredentials are being embraced by students allowing them to formally recognise the soft skills and competencies alongside degree learning,” he said.
“We’re supporting the shift from certificate to portfolio learning by partnering with industry and giving everyone a way to come back and top up their skills.”
Story: Shelley Brady and Karen Phelan