The flexible professional in the knowledge society: required competences and the role of higher education

This chapter provides a brief overview of the theoretical underpinnings of the reflex project and describes some of the key findings. Attention is paid to the demands made of graduates and the extent to which they are prepared by higher education to meet these demands. Five domains are identified in which graduates are thought to be faced with particularly high demands: professional expertise, functional flexibility, innovation and knowledge management, mobilisation of human resources and international orientation. As well as describing the extent to which graduates experience a shortage or a surplus of competences in these domains, we pay attention to competences that are considered specifically weak or strong points of the higher education program. We look at national differences in the way in which higher education is organised and explore the role of higher education in equipping graduates with the competences they need to meet the five demands. We also look at the extent to which higher education provides a good basis for participation in the labour market, for career and personal development and for the development of entrepreneurial skills, and examine how program characteristics are related to graduates’ evaluations of these aspects.keywordshigh educationlabour marketknowledge managementstudy programmeprogramme characteristicthese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.