How it works

The ESA was developed to bridge the soft skills gap by helping integrate them into higher education institutions’ curricula, Wolff says. The first step is to evaluate the existing curriculum: “Does it integrate critical soft skills within the context of each discipline? Are faculty members aware of relevant soft skills, and are they equipped with the necessary tools to embed these skills into the framework of the course?”

The ESA includes a field-tested framework that higher education programs go through to align curricula with current employability needs, according to the press release. Each program will be supported as they develop proficiency in eight 21st century skills — Essential Employability Qualities — researched and identified by QA Commons as critical: communication, thinking and problem solving, inquiry, collaboration, adaptability, learning, principles and ethics, and responsibility and professionalism.

The ESA also measures whether the program transparently describes the major that students will receive and the skills they are required to learn, in order to better match with career options, Wolff says, and then this is paired with information on salaries and career pathways that will help students plan for their own professional growth in the workplace.

“In the end, a school has a clear benchmark of how their students are faring in the workplace, and how exactly to round out its curriculum with training for current, in-demand skills,” Wolff says.

Six colleges or universities in Kentucky have already gone through the ESA, and 13 of 16 programs are now certified in QA Commons’ eight EEQs. “In this process, we learned a great deal about where gaps exist within and across programs and where good practices are being implemented,” Thompson says.

“Students should have a greater understanding of the skills they bring to bear on their course of study, and those they’ve acquired leading up to completion,” he adds. “Using the ESA, program stakeholders can clearly see for themselves where they are doing well and how to do better.”