Professional skills and value generation

The Government recently submitted a plan for a comprehensive innovation policy. Termed “From Concepts to Values,” it declares that human capital, in the form of labour and skills, constitutes the bulk of Norway’s national wealth. The plan also features a greater commitment to education and research as a fundamental prerequisite for increased innovation and value generation. This human capital – what it consists of, how it is gauged and how it is used – lies at the heart of the plan. The OECD and EU have emphasized the importance of expertise and education as a basis for economic value generation and development. The OECD recommends that higher education more closely address the needs of the labour market. From an educational and political vantage point, this means that its regional roots as well as its significance to the nation as a whole will take on greater urgency. Knowledge imparted by institutions of higher learning should spring from the latest advances in research and innovation work. The kind of knowledge on offer must be consistent with society’s needs and students’ own expectations. This will be achieved when these institutions of higher learning are flexible and capable of adapting, and when they collaborate with industry and other educational and research institutions, both nationally and internationally.

Today, higher education is becoming increasingly geared towards the individual. A person’s choices and achievements, along with a demand for efficiency and quality, are valued more highly than ever. In Norway this is manifested in the Quality Reform and in the goal of making each student successful. A greater emphasis on the individual also entails a corresponding focus on the nature of what is being imparted and on one’s skills and expertise. In this context, educational institutions act as “knowledge enterprises,” whereas individuals are “knowledge workers.” The latter decide for themselves the kind of knowledge they wish to possess, as well as how they wish to make use of it. We could call this knowledge “intellectual capital,” which is used to achieve the goals one has set for oneself.

Students and institutions alike have a mutual obligation to ensure that knowledge is consistent with the needs of society. This requires students to take responsibility for their own learning and participate actively in their own education. Educational institutions, for their part, must provide for a good, all-round learning environment and pave the way for forms of teaching and ways of doing things that will promote students’ academic skills and inspire them to participate actively. The institutions are responsible for seeing to it that students as “employees” are equipped to use and benefit from the skills they possess. Employees with professional expertise are people with ideas, drive and mettle – people with the will and the means to put new ideas into practice.

The major challenge that lies ahead is whether we will be able to make a sufficient commitment to innovation and creativity and thus be able to draw upon the values that education and expertise represent. The goal of a forward-looking, knowledge-based society depends upon it. Education and expertise represent a valuable resource, one that must be applied if it is to have any real worth.

Christian Haaland
Education and research officer

Translated by Stephen Timmons