Skills for the labor market of the future

In cooperation with the Inspectorate of Education, the Education Lab and Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) investigate which skills will be in high demand in the future labor market and how to motivate more students to acquire these skills. These insights can help to equip students with skills that ensure a successful transition from education to the labour market.

Against the background of rapidly changing labour market due to advances in artificial intelligence and other large labour market trends, it is of vital importance for students to learn skills for a successful entry into the labour market. An imbalance between demand and supply of skills has not only adverse consequences for individual students, but also for employers and society as a whole. By investigating future skill demands and students’ motivation to learn these skills, we aim to help students achieve more fulfilling careers after school.

In a co-creation team of researchers at the Education Lab and ROA, we analyse future skill demand based on labour market forecasts and literature insights. Additionally, we are working on an experiment to investigate more effective and encouraging ways to help students to learn these skills. We meet bimonthly to update each other on the progress. Currently, we are further optimizing our experimental approach and hope to launch a pilot soon.

Schools interested in participating in an experiment to encourage their students to learn future oriented skills can contact our co-creation manager Derk Bransen

(d.bransen@maastrichtuniversity.nl ) for more information. Schools from all over the country are welcome.