Student perspectives on skills development

What is Skills Development?

Skills development refers to the process through which students acquire new skills or enhance existing ones. Within higher education, discussions around skills development often focus on employability—preparing students for future careers and meeting the needs of particular industries or sectors. However, skills development is equally important for students’ success in their academic programmes and their wider personal lives.

In this context, skills are understood in the broadest possible sense. It refers not just to things students can do, but also how they use the knowledge they have learnt and personal attributes such as self-reflection.

At the University of Bristol, skills development is viewed as a holistic combination of knowing, acting, and being, drawing on the framework proposed by Barnett and Coates (2004). This perspective is embedded in initiatives such as the Bristol Skills Profile and the Bristol Curriculum Framework.

Extra-curricular initiatives, including the Bristol Plus Award, also play an important role in providing students with opportunities to actively develop skills and recognise those gained through their academic studies or wider experiences. Building on this, Brookes et al. (2004) suggest that skills development is often a significant motivating factor for students when choosing to enrol at university.

What Do Students Say About Skills Development?

In November 2024, BILT conducted a series of student focus groups to better understand students’ perspectives on skills development. Four key themes emerged from this research.

Institutional Avenues for Skills Development

Students consistently highlighted university-led curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular opportunities as central to their skills development. Extra-curricular initiatives—particularly those offered through the Students’ Union and the Careers Service—were mentioned most frequently and, in many cases, more prominently than formal curricular or co-curricular provision.

Generic and Discipline-Specific Skills

Students showed a clear awareness of the relationship between discipline-specific (often described as “hard”) skills and generic (or “soft”) skills. Discipline-specific skills were typically discussed in relation to employability and career development, while generic skills were more often linked to personal growth and confidence. Although some students prioritised one over the other, many viewed both as closely connected. Importantly, students’ understanding of what constituted skills development influenced the activities they chose to pursue.

Stepping Outside the Comfort Zone

Many students described skills development as an intentional process that involved pushing beyond their comfort zones, trying new activities, and actively seeking growth. Others noted that skills were also developed more passively through everyday academic and social experiences.

Barriers to Skills Development

Students identified several barriers to engaging in skills development activities. These included limited awareness of available opportunities, time and workload pressures, personal challenges, and wider external constraints. Awareness and availability of opportunities were the most frequently cited issues.

Implications for Curriculum Design

The findings suggest several important considerations for curriculum design.

Creating Space for Reflection

Programmes should clearly articulate the skills they enable students to develop across curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular contexts. Equally important is creating space for structured reflection, which may require limiting curricular content where possible. Reflection helps students recognise and articulate the skills they are developing.

Prioritising Inclusivity

Students highlighted barriers to engaging in extra-curricular skills development, particularly due to workload pressures and part-time employment. Embedding skills development more explicitly within the curriculum can help ensure that all students have equitable access to opportunities to develop wider attributes. One way to do this is by clearly identifying the skills developed and demonstrated through assessments. The Bristol Skills Profile, which has been mapped against the University’s marking criteria, provides a useful tool to support this approach.

Improving Access to Information

Students benefit from clear and accessible information about available skills development opportunities, including both course-specific and generic resources. Consistent signposting, for example through Blackboard, can help students locate relevant materials more easily. Support in navigating these resources may also be necessary.

Deliberate Guidance and Employer Alignment

Curricula should guide students more intentionally through their skills development, particularly in relation to employer expectations. Alignment between academic programmes and wider academic support—such as personal tutoring—can help students articulate the skills they are gaining and connect these to their aspirations.

What Might This Look Like in Practice?

Integrating Skills Development into the Curriculum

Group projects: Collaborative assignments can support the development of generic skills such as teamwork, leadership, communication, and conflict resolution. To maximise impact, students should be encouraged to reflect not only on outcomes but also on how they worked together.
Application-based activities: Case studies, simulations, and hypothetical scenarios allow students to apply theoretical knowledge to practical situations. These activities should explicitly highlight relevant discipline-specific and industry-related skills and draw connections to professional contexts.

Creating Intentional Reflection Opportunities

Embedded reflection: Reflection can be built into assessments, tutorials, and feedback sessions. For example, tutors can highlight the skills demonstrated in high-scoring work and explain how students can develop these further.
Reflective journals or portfolios: These encourage students to track their skills development across a module or programme, with attention to both generic and discipline-specific skills.
Student feedback: Questions such as “What skills did you develop?” and “What barriers did you face?” can inform ongoing course development and refinement.

Simplifying Access to Resources

Curricular resources: All course-related resources, guides, and handbooks should be clearly signposted. Students should also be supported in navigating digital platforms such as Blackboard and the Library.
Extra-curricular resources: Personal tutors and professional services can play a key role in helping students identify suitable co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities, such as workshops, internships, or Students’ Union activities.

Helping Students Translate Skills into Employability

Peer learning: Structured peer learning and mentoring—including cross-year or “vertical” arrangements—can support skills development and career awareness.
Personal tutoring support: Tutors can encourage engagement with platforms such as MySkills, support ongoing skills tracking, and signpost financial support such as the Students’ Union Activity Hardship Fund where needed.
Articulating skills for employers: Students benefit from learning how to translate academic experiences into employability language. Frameworks such as STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) can help students present their skills effectively in applications and interviews.

If you’d like to learn more about the skills development research, you can read our report here.