Future skill set of higher education learners: confirmatory factor analysis

Changes in technology and labour market demand call on students to continually learn and develop themselves through lifelong learning. This extends to digital transformation, both during and post-COVID, as well as Industry 4.0, has become a challenge for higher education learning. This has caused learners to continue using digital technology for sustainability purposes while addressing future skill sets. This study conducted a second-order confirmatory factor analysis of future essential skill sets for higher education learners. For the future skill set, four components were identified: 1) problem-solving; 2) self-management; 3) working with people; 4) technology use and development. The factor loading for all latent variables was positive, ranging from 0.94 to 0.99. Self-management component had the highest factor loading (β = 0.99), followed by the technology use and development and problem-solving components, which had an equal factor loading (β = 0.95), and the working with people component (β = 0.94), respectively.