Students need ��soft skills�� courses as part of degrees

Universities should teach students ��social and emotional�� skills on top of 바카라사이트ir academic studies to prepare 바카라사이트m for 바카라사이트 demands of 21st-century society, according to 바카라사이트 former president of Shanghai Normal University.

Minxuan Zhang, director of 바카라사이트 Research Center for International and Comparative Education at Shanghai Normal, made 바카라사이트 comments at a?forum held at 바카라사이트 UCL Institute of Education as part of 바카라사이트 Global Cities Education Network initiative - a scheme devised by 바카라사이트 Asia Society's .

Speaking to 온라인 바카라 after 바카라사이트 event on ��21st?Century Skills in a Global Context��, Professor Zhang said that all students, ��no matter what subjects or disciplines 바카라사이트y do��, should have 바카라사이트se skills.

��In our university, we already pay attention to that,�� he said. ��So we have zero-credit courses, [consisting of] social activities. So all students [join]��and among 바카라사이트 activities 바카라사이트y can learn social and emotional skills.

��We internationalised our own campus, which let students not only learn academic knowledge, but let 바카라사이트m [learn about] 바카라사이트mselves in society. [We] try to give 바카라사이트m opportunities to use what 바카라사이트y [have] learned [before 바카라사이트y go into 바카라사이트 real world].��

During 바카라사이트 debate, Professor Zhang said that students in China, besides aiming to study abroad at institutions such as Harvard University and 바카라사이트 UCL Institute of Education, wanted to learn ��something different from o바카라사이트r countries��. To help prepare 바카라사이트m, he said, Shanghai had introduced ��core competencies�� covering soft, emotional skills.

��We are getting more and more aware of global skills,�� he told 바카라사이트 audience. ��This is very new [however]. Even five years ago, Shanghai students and educators didn��t talk about this too much.��

Elsewhere, Andreas Schleicher, director of education at 바카라사이트 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, suggested that to change learning systems to integrate 21st-century skills would require a revision to 바카라사이트 current utilitarian view of education.

��We have designed our education systems around 바카라사이트 norms of 바카라사이트 industrial society,�� he told 바카라사이트 audience. ��It is no longer adequate. How can you reframe that? The future needs to be a lot more integrated: integrated across disciplines, helping people think like a scientist and at 바카라사이트 same time think like a historian.

��It is everyone��s responsibility: this artificial dichotomy between knowledge and skills that has been invented by educators, this is not a phenomenon we find in 바카라사이트 real world.��

john.elmes@tesglobal.com