Level up — preparing students for a modern workforce
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 26, 2025) — "Office Space," the 1999 comedy film about the work lives of individuals at a software company, is considered a cult classic for a reason. Its depictions of work life in a bureaucratic world resonate with so many. The sets are iconic and instantly recognizable — rows and rows of identical cubicles lit from above by harsh fluorescent lighting. Employees sequestered away from each other are focused on their own work.
In decades past, this was a common image evoked whenever anyone mentioned “going to the office” or “heading to work.”
These days, a more common image of an office space is one large, open space containing desks — with no cubicles in sight.
Technology has increased the connectedness of workspaces — most colleagues are a simple message away, even if they live and work in an entirely different state or country. And with this connectedness comes an entirely separate set of skills required to navigate work environments successfully.
“Skills are more than just what students do well,” said Jennifer Osterhage, Ph.D., director of the Office of Transdisciplinary Educational approaches to advance Kentucky (TEK). “They’re how we enact the knowledge, experiences and methods of our disciplines in complex, ambiguous and evolving settings.”
As the modern workforce continues to grow more advanced and interconnected, students must develop the skills needed to compete and thrive in an evolving workplace. The 10 Essential Skills initiative at the University of Kentucky is primed do just that — by helping students build and engage those skills and excel in their chosen career paths.
The 10 Essential Skills are ones that education and workforce experts have determined students should attain in addition to the theoretical and practical knowledge they learn in major-specific courses:
- Effective communication
- Critical thinking
- Quantitative reasoning
- Cultural competency
- Adaptability and leadership
- Professionalism
- Civic engagement
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Applied learning
- Informed decision-making
An emphasis on employability skills — sometimes called soft skills — is not new. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, almost three in four employers have difficulty finding graduates with the soft skills that companies need.
In the last decade, and particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the delivery of education, the value of higher education and a college degree has been scrutinized more closely than ever. According to a Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) report, this public attention, coupled with calls from large corporations and business leaders for action, has been the impetus for a greater focus on employability and technical skills that graduates must use to successfully navigate a work environment.
UK has historically emphasized the importance of these skills in initiatives such as TEK, launched in February 2023, through which students gain leadership and employability skills using team-based work and connecting with local and community experts. The 10 Essential Skills project is one additional step the institution is taking to ensure that the state it serves continues to thrive in the years to come.
“These skills describe what’s required of students to make meaningful and positive changes in their professions and communities,” said Osterhage.
The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education — in partnership with each of the Commonwealth’s four-year, public institutions as well as all 16 Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) campuses — has used the 10 Essential Skills to develop the Graduate Profile, a set of career-readiness learning outcomes that each graduate of a Kentucky institution of higher learning should meet through their education.
“Our Graduate Profile team has been working collaboratively with many individuals and units across campus to help support CPE’s mission to ensure that all students are equipped with the 10 Essential Skills,” said Brandi Frisby, Ph.D., associate provost for academic affairs.
In Kentucky, teams from each of the eight four-year, public institutions and the 16 KCTCS campuses have come together to form the Kentucky Graduate Profile Academy (the Academy) — collaborating across the Commonwealth to ingrain the 10 Essential Skills into each program, degree and certificate.
The Academy focuses on three major areas: campus culture; professional development of faculty and staff; and meaningful change. A key component of the Academy’s work is to ensure enduring and lasting impact on Kentucky’s graduates to help support the state’s growth. By embedding the 10 Essential Skills into both curricular and co-curricular expectations of students, the Academy supports UK’s mission of advancing Kentucky and improving people’s lives by preparing its graduates with the tools needed to lead in a competitive and complex workforce.
Frisby and Osterhage — along with Molly Reynolds, Ph.D., from the Office for Student Success and Beth Garvy, Ph.D., from the College of Medicine — are part of the team at UK leading the effort to implement the 10 Essential Skills. Partnering with the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching as well as the Stuckert Career Center, they have begun reimagining and enhancing how the university prepares students to excel in an increasingly competitive workforce.
Part of that work is examining each program that colleges offer to their students. With support from CPE staff and resources, the UK Graduate Profile team is working to ensure that the high-quality education offered to all students continues to meet and exceed the highest of standards.
“These are skills that are already embedded in our general education curriculum and in our majors, demonstrating our commitment to student workforce readiness,” said Frisby. “It is truly exciting to see the 10 Essential Skills project highlighting the amazing work our faculty do on campus to support these initiatives.”
The team is also working to create programming and events for students and faculty to create more awareness of the project on campus. These events, such as a skills-based resume workshop hosted by TEK, are part of the larger effort to create a campus culture where students know what skills they need to succeed in their future careers and can practice those skills with their peers and instructors.
“The 10 Essential Skills project helps us develop a shared language with students around just how capable they are because of their time at UK,” said Osterhage. “Our work represents a big step toward reinforcing and enhancing what students take with them into the workplace.”
The ultimate goal of the project is to allow students to learn and grow these skills, preparing them for what will come after graduation, no matter what path they choose to take.
As Frisby said, “These skills transcend major and career choices to set our students up for a successful professional life.”
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.