Why Newcastle created the Education for Life Skills and Attributes

The development of Newcastle’s Education for Life Skills and Attributes emerged from a simple but powerful question: What kinds of graduates do we want to develop for the future?

This question is familiar in higher education, but it has renewed urgency in the context of technological change, global disruption, social injustice, and the growing need for lifelong learning. Underpinning our Education for Life 2030+ strategy is a fundamenta commitment to support our students to be fit for their futures.

Our task was to create a model that recognises the complexity of the challenges facing our students while offering a practical, inclusive and future-focused approach that can be embedded within and beyond every degree programme.

We recognised that skills development was already happening in many places across our curriculum – but often only implicitly. The challenge was to make these opportunities more visible, intentional and equitable across all our programmes. We needed an approach that supported students to recognise and reflect on their skills and attributes development across their whole university journey, and to help academic teams to embed this meaningfully into their programmes.

What shaped our thinking

The design process was informed by both scholarship and collaboration. We drew on international frameworks, employer insights, and sector-wide research to identify a rich set of capabilities that align with the needs of today’s learners and tomorrow’s workforce. This was paired with a wide ranging process of co-creation involving academic and professional services colleagues, students, alumni, and governance groups.

Crucially, our thinking was given focus by Ehlers’ (2024) triple helix model of future-oriented learning, which conceptualises the development of learners across three interwoven domains: academic, personal, and professional. This approach provided us with the opportunity to rethink skills and attributes development more holistically, inclusive of students’ academic experiences as well as part-time work, clubs and societies, caring responsibilities and alike.

We adapted Ehlers’ model to suit our context, embedding it in a Newcastle specific values-driven structure that reflects Newcastle’s identity and aspirations.

The Newcastle Growth Mindset Clusters

We structured our approach around our university’s aspirational values – Excellence, Creativity, and Impact – which act as three growth mindset clusters for the skills and attributes.

Positioned within the broader institutional strategy, they provided a foundation for clusters of skills and attributes that reflect the kind of mindset we want our students to develop as they learn, explore ideas, and apply their knowledge in real-world settings.

Each cluster includes five skills and attributes, giving a total of fifteen. This number reflects core skills and attributes identified in research and employer literatures as essential for future graduates. We don’t expect all students to develop all fifteen; instead, we will support colleagues to make intentional, discipline-relevant choices so students can identify, explore, apply and reflect on their skills and attributes throughout their university journey.

A student-centred, values-led approach

Our aim is coherent yet flexible – aligning with diverse disciplines, levels of study, and delivery modes while centring students’ future needs. By embedding growth mindset clusters, we offer more than transferable skills; we provide a model that fosters empowered, purposeful learners.

Our approach is student-facing and student-led, with the fifteen skills and attributes visible in programme documentation, surfaced in teaching, and reflected upon throughout the student journey.

Looking ahead

Newcastle’s Education for Life Skills and Attributes approach is more than a checklist – it is a long-term commitment to embedding future-facing learning in every programme. As we implement it across the University, we aim to support students to become confident, creative, and capable graduates.

As a core part of the Leading Edge Curriculum Framework, it combines scholarship, co-design, and our institutional values to shape a distinctive educational experience – one that ensures students are fit for the future.

Dr Alison Williams is Dean of Postgraduate Research at Newcastle University

Michelle Black is Learning Design & Curriculum Development Advisor at Newcastle University