Transferable skills

Transferable skills, also known as soft skills, represent a person's attitude in the workplace. These are non-technical or specialised skills that facilitate your relationships with others, enabling you to solve problems and manage your work with greater awareness.

Unlike technical skills, which identify with a specific sector or field of activity, transferable skills apply to any professional and personal context.

At the University of Bologna, you can take different courses while pursuing your studies so that you can acquire these transferable skills.

For bachelor’s or master’s degree students

Some of the reasons for taking the courses on offer:
- the courses offered are free of charge for anyone studying at our University.
- they can open up new opportunities and accelerate your professional growth.
- they enhance your curriculum, making it more attractive in the job market.
- they enrich your development, helping you acquire new strategies for your future social and work relationships.
- the “The future of jobs 2020” Report prepared by the World Economic Forum"places transferable skills among the central categories in recruitment processes.
These courses are conducted annually.

No CFUs (University Educational Credits) are recognised for these courses.

An internationally recognised Open Badge for skills certification is issued (this refers to a digital certificate that you can include in your digital curriculum to add value to your professional profile).
Go to the Centre for teaching and learning website to find:
- the course catalogue
- the dates when registration opens
Enrol by using your username and password (@studio.unibo.it) to access the "Calendar and registration" link shown for the course that you are interested in.
Courses are held online on the Virtual platform in synchronous or asynchronous mode, with a 6, 8 or 12 hour duration.

Detailed information is published by lecturers on Virtual in the space dedicated to each course.

Courses do not require compulsory attendance.

Please see the detailed information available in the individual course sheets on the Centre for teaching and learning website.

For those attending a PhD programme

Initiatives are intended for PhD students in cycles 38, 39, and 40; any access restrictions are detailed in the individual course sheets.

Transferable skills are fundamental to doctoral studies to develop skills that are appropriate not only to academia, but also to other work contexts.
They improve your professional profile and provide a “bridge” between academic research and the outside world (companies, public entities, other organisations), through competencies such as scientific communication, data management, technology transfer, intellectual property.
Learning activities that fall under transferable skills for PhD students may cover different subjects and methods. This is what they usually include.

Thematic areas covered
- thinking “outside the box”, adopting a critical and creative perspective to solving complex problems;
- analysing complex situations and identifying solutions with methodological rigour and flexibility;
- working effectively in interdisciplinary teams, contributing ideas, coordination and collaboration;
- organising time, objectives and activities efficiently;
- skilled and cognisant use of technological and digital tools;
- clear, effective and persuasive expression of ideas and results, even to non-specialist audiences;
- disseminating scientific knowledge, adapting language to different audiences;
- operating in international and multidisciplinary contexts, dealing with different cultures;
- autonomously navigating and interacting in complex environments using interpersonal skills.
To enrol, go to https://iscrizioni-eventi.unibo.it using your username and password and select the initiatives that interest you.

You can only register for one edition of each course. If an activity is not yet scheduled, you will receive notification via email when registration opens.

On completion, whoever has attended at least 70% of the scheduled hours will receive a digital Open Badge, which can be downloaded according to the instructions sent via email. All completed activities remain visible on the U-WEB personal portfolio.
Activities are held online or in-person, synchronously or asynchronously and include lectures, laboratories and interactive workshops. Each course will specify the duration, mode of attendance and the programme.

Attendance is not always compulsory but is necessary to obtain the certificate and corresponding Open Badge.

Go to the catalogue on the Centre for Teaching and Learning website.

FAQ

Open Badges are presented as images, readable from any computer, and contain metadata about the competence that the badge certifies and the person to whom it was awarded.

Each badge is unique and, when read by a system that supports the OBI standard, provides information about the person who holds it: first name and surname, the date it was awarded, the competence it represents, how that competence was acquired and verified. All the information can be verified in real time from any OBI supported system.

An Open Badge has a strong communicative power due to the visual component of the image. The Open Badge is portable because any system that supports the standard can read its metadata and verify it by accessing the platform that issued it.
If you meet the attendance requirements for the year in which you chose the subject, you can take the exam. Please contact the relevant office to check your situation. You can write to aform.competenzetrasversali@unibo.it.

This FAQ relates to the Transversal Competence Plan that is in place until academic year 2023/24.

Contacts

CTL - Unità di processo Organizzazione didattica

Address

Via Filippo Re 4 Bologna (BO)

E-mail

competenze.trasversali@unibo.it