The Road

You know that "aha!" moment when the jumbled, yet very catchy, words of a childhood pop song suddenly click, revealing a clear meaning you never quite grasped before? It's a satisfying revelation, a shift from simply hearing to truly understanding.

We need a similar epiphany when it comes to how we leverage – and listen to - data, particularly in recognising the full spectrum of human potential – especially in students.

A fundamental shift is underway in how universities assess what truly matters. In a panel session moderated by Dr Paul Thurman, Professor of Management and Analytics at Columbia University, the discussion centred on moving from simply documenting academic achievements to holistically measuring a graduate's full readiness for the real world.

In the session, titled “Skills As The New Currency For University Excellence”, Dr Jonathan Schwarz, Director of Institutional Research at MIT, initiated this conversation by distinguishing between "resume skills", such as coding and language proficiency, and deeper, more enduring "second bucket" skills, like critical thinking and adaptability. He admitted that while quantifying traditional research output is straightforward, establishing the "link between data and skills is a little harder".

Dr Schwarz highlighted MIT's proactive step to inventory intended skills for every academic programme in the institution, underscoring a deliberate move towards a data-driven and direct measurement of these broader competencies.

This commitment to data-informed skill development was echoed throughout the panel. Chelvin Loh, Director, Skills Intelligence & Planning Division at SkillsFuture Singapore described how the agency uses labour market data from job postings to "pre-emptively signpost" future skill demands. This ensures that educational supply aligns with industry needs.

Dr Lim Fun Siong, Head of Applications of Teaching & Leaning Analytics for Students at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University further emphasised the role of national agencies like SkillsFuture in providing data to inform universities about the current value of their programmes' skills. “The speed at which the skills are actually being updated and [how] the industry is actually evolving, perhaps it's actually much faster than [the pace that we] are actually reviewing our own curriculum,” said Dr Lim.

The true heart of the discussion, however, lay in recognising that the "currency" of skills extends far beyond technical proficiency. Professor Sun Sun Lim, Vice President of Partnerships & Engagement at Singapore Management University (SMU) powerfully demonstrated this with SMU’s co-curricular transcript, which uses a data-driven approach to capture and digitally badge attributes like creativity, communication and resilience.

This collection of non-traditional skills, such as those gained through mandatory community service or interdisciplinary projects, allows for a more comprehensive, data-backed understanding of a student's "holistic growth”. As Dr Lim puts it, employers aren't just looking for skilled people - they want "the right person for the job" and better data helps reveal those full capabilities.

Ultimately, universities must move beyond just listing accomplishments. To remain vital, they need to build and precisely measure the full range of hard and soft skills with more data. This approach moulds more adaptable, empathetic and valuable graduates, ensuring the "currency" they produce is not just accepted, but highly prized for its accurate depiction of human potential.

Data, the Recruit

The conversation towards a more holistic understanding of potential was further explored in "Smart Recruitment," a session moderated by Jonathan Sabarre, Director of Marketing and Communications at Newcastle University in the UK. Sabarre set the stage by emphasising that higher education's core responsibility has evolved.

No longer is it merely about imparting knowledge or securing graduation - it's about ensuring graduates are truly employable and equipped with the skills for long-term success. He highlighted a striking statistic for Gen Alpha: “60 percent of the jobs don't currently exist for them”.

Dirk Hopfl, Founder of eduALTO in Singapore, elaborated on the challenges in measuring graduate outcomes, noting that "66 percent of graduates don't know where they should go… and don't feel really prepared for the workplace”. This disconnect, coupled with internal "inefficiencies within academic institutions" and the slow pace of accreditation, creates a significant hurdle.

He stressed the "huge skills instability", where the pace of skill change outstrips curriculum updates. Reinforcing this, James Zhou from Alibaba Cloud International explained that routine work would likely be automated, pushing individuals towards "high value-positions" requiring data-driven decision-making and "human-AI collaboration”.

Innovative assessment methods were also explored in the session. Andrew Chai, Founder of AttituX, discussed his company's unique approach to evaluating soft skills using "doodle drawings", a method based on "projective psychometrics". “We basically flash symbols and we don't ask any questions, so there's no questionnaire,” he said.

“An individual then doodles, so it's not how well they draw but what they doodle. That tells us what's in their subconscious mind.” This allows them to uncover a candidate's "innate behaviour" and attitude which traditional resumes often miss, he added.

In the meantime, Leanne DeHaye, Singapore Country Director for Women in Tech and Senior Director in TDCX AI, cautioned against AI bias in recruitment, revealing how asking ChatGPT to generate an image of her from past interactions resulted in "an old white man". She stressed building "extra guardrails" in AI and encouraged recruiters to use inclusive language in job descriptions. DeHaye also highlighted the systemic flaws of Application Tracking Systems (ATS), which often reduce candidates to two-page CVs, as well as the emerging challenge of "AI talking to another AI" as both job descriptions and applications become AI-generated.

Data For Impact – A Sustainability Lens

The discussion about skills highlighted how a deeper understanding of data can transform education and learning. But this paradigm shift isn't limited to universities. The call to truly "listen" to our data extends to every sector, especially when facing urgent global challenges like sustainability.

This very idea was central to Lorena Paglia's keynote. Paglia, who is Microsoft's Data and AI Global Operations Leader, posed a poignant question in hey keynote: Are we truly listening to our data, or are we just logging it?

Paglia, who is also Global Co-Chair of Microsoft’s Sustainability Community, insisted that data should be a catalyst, not a conclusion. It holds immense power, capable of unlocking significant achievements and driving meaningful change, she said. The real trick lies in harnessing that power effectively.

Consider this challenge Paglia posed to her audience: What if we treated sustainability data with the same urgency and strategic focus we apply to revenue data? We certainly wouldn't stand by for a year if our revenues took a dive. In business, a dip in the bottomline triggers immediate action - investigation, mobilisation and swift measures to correct costs and bridge the gap.

Yet, with sustainability data, even when presented on the most sophisticated dashboards, we often find ourselves in a state of passive observation. We admire the problem, dissecting it from every angle, instead of actively moving forward to solve it, Paglia said. “We measure, but we don’t always move,” she continues. As Paglia astutely pointed out: “this isn't a data problem; that's a follow-through problem”.

She brought up a few key points to encourage a movement mindset: Firstly, movement should be the new metric for everyone including governments, academia and communities. Secondly, the problem should be defined boldly - not just in carbon terms - but in a human and systemic way where it aligns with the real-world problem. She also stressed the importance of designing for action, where data systems can be fully nudged and where people are accountable. Sustainability should also be everyone’s job, she finally highlighted, where the responsibility is distributed. The chief sustainability officer should not be the only person involved with sustainability issues.

Her last words on stage were hard hitting: “Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation, real momentum requires courageously bold action before a dashboard or a graph tells you it’s okay to take that action. My invitation to you – what was the last real decision that you changed because a data demanded it? Because the real metric isn’t what you measure, it’s what you move.”

It all boils down to whether we're truly listening. Just like finally understanding the deeper meaning of a catchy song, listening to our data means moving beyond simply hearing the numbers and instead internalising their message, allowing them to truly resonate and guide our actions. Are we ready to really listen?