Welcome to the Transferable Skills Unit (TSU)
The Transferable Skills Unit (TSU) was set up within the faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) to strengthen the presence and visibility of transferable skills across our programmes and research. This reflects a growing focus on the need for transferable skills.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) 39 per cent of core skills will change globally by 2030 and for Ireland that figure is 37 per cent.
Therefore, it is crucial for those of us in higher education to develop a structured approach to teaching transferable skills, ensuring students are better prepared for the workplace and the world we live in.
For students, our mission is to enhance your educational journey by integrating essential transferable skills into your undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. These skills which include, critical thinking, complex problem solving, communication, and creativity, are crucial for your academic and professional success.
We have aligned our transferable skills with the graduate attributes that reflect the values fostered by UL: curiosity, creativity and academic excellence in an inclusive community committed to social good.
The TSU is dedicated to making these skills more explicit and visible in your learning experience. We aim to ensure that you graduate with not only a deep knowledge of your field of study but also the ability to effectively apply that knowledge in various contexts. Through our initiatives, you will have opportunities to record, evidence, and showcase your transferable skills, preparing you for a dynamic and evolving job market, lifelong learning and global citizenship.
We invite our university colleagues to join us in highlighting the importance of transferable skills and integrating them more visibly into your programmes. We will provide the necessary resources and tools to support this effort. Together, we can enrich our students' educational experiences and better prepare them for successful futures.
We aim to collaborate with researchers and industry to enhance our understanding of various transferable skills. This includes embedding these skills from a pedagogical perspective and defining and measuring them in workplace and real-world contexts.
We hope that you will engage with us as we develop this unit in 2025 and beyond and build the resources on this website. If you like to partner with us or have any feedback, please email us.
Many thanks,
Dr Chris McInerney
Director, Transferable Skills Unit