The View
Why AI can’t replace soft skills
While AI might start taking over certain roles, there is something it finds difficult to replicate: soft skills. How can institutions help students use their human advantage and how could that help universities themselves?
By Gordon Scott
"There is a soft skills deficit in the graduate employer market – in particular with adaptability, complex problem-solving, leadership, communication and resilience."
"Deeply human strengths — shaped by emotion, ethical judgment and complex decision-making under uncertainty — remain irreplaceable."
"Graduate employment outcomes are now the single strongest indicator of a high-quality education, surpassing university rankings and campus facilities."
I’m sitting here in my office reading all the latest newsletters, QS Insights, ICEF Monitor, Koala News, WonkHE, HEPI, The PIE, etc. A repetitive theme continues to emerge. While generative AI has reached a level of polish that can nearly mirror hours of human output in seconds, the global labour market is experiencing an ongoing "human skills" shortage. Why the disconnect?
For those of us who have spent decades around university walls, our challenge is no longer just about transferring academic knowledge; it is about scaling the development of attributes that an algorithm cannot replicate: there is a soft skills deficit in the graduate employer market – in particular with adaptability, complex problem-solving, leadership, communication and resilience.
Gap#1: Graduate soft skills
Often when I speak with institutions about the gap in graduates’ soft skills, they rightly respond that they are attempting to address the development of these skills through various faculty and work experience programs. This, of course is fantastic to see. However, not all students can participate in these programs; I rarely witness a properly scalable approach to finding a solution to graduate soft skill preparation.
In my mind, it is this scale that is required in order to address widespread employer concern. We need to turn out every student at each institution with the right, employer-ready soft skills.
Recent data from the QS Global Employer Survey 2024, which captured insights from over 110,000 employers, highlights a significant graduate satisfaction skills gap. While graduates often arrive at the interview table with the required technical "hard skills," there is a deepening despondency from employers regarding graduate soft skill competencies.
In the Asia-Pacific region specifically, employers identified problem-solving, communication, leadership and resilience/flexibility among the top six graduate skills gaps.
To bridge this, universities must move beyond traditional instruction. We need to help our students prioritise authenticity, verbal reasoning and unique lived experiences (ideally in a professional or work context) that will enable graduates to demonstrate their competencies and experiences with these skills. The most effective vehicle for this transformation at scale? Targeted, co-branded and scalable microcredentials provided to every enrolled student.
To support institutions with reaching this scalable outcome, Successful Graduate has developed online microcredentials for each of the skills highlighted above. Students who complete the microcredentials can automatically post them to their LinkedIn profiles, listing the credential as evidence of priority soft skills attainment to employers.
We have written these products specifically with university students in mind, and each course contains a module on how to embed their soft skills capacity into their CV’s, cover letters and how to address these skills during graduate job interviews. Now it is possible to automate the delivery of these soft skills competencies at scale.
Gap #2: Student engagement during enrolment
Recently, the ICEF Monitor reported on new research from Sinorbis and Edified which highlights a growing “engagement gap” between international student expectations and institutional response. This gap sits in the enrolment lifecycle, and highlights the concern that aspiring international students have about the level of support and engagement they feel they must have when enrolling. We have tens of thousands of student survey results that provide qualitative proof about the level of anxiety and uncertainty students have when holding multiple university offers.
The solution to this engagement gap has been clear since we started offering our microcredentials to future students at client universities as incentives and rewards for enrolling. In particular, future students appreciate a combination of the following:
· Academic preparation for their new country
· Pre-departure support prior to travelling and upon arrival
· Employability preparation viz finding part-time work on arrival to alleviate cost of living pressures
Naturally, we customise each of these microcredentials to suit the circumstances of each client university, country of study, etc. The results have been amazing. A recent A/B test implemented by our partner QS with London South Bank University split 5,800 future students into two groups: half who were incentivised with our microcredentials to confirm their enrolment, and half who were not. The result? A staggering 85.9 percent increase in enrolment conversion.
What really interests me, now, is the strong level of interest that enrolling students have disclosed about the early development of additional employability skills. International students in particular seem eager to start their employability journey as soon as possible, and they see this as part of their ROI with a university.
I have often written and spoken about the benefits of early employability intervention. To what degree do future international students have an appetite (and capacity) to start to develop their soft skills, particularly the skills highlighted above by employers as key priorities for further development?
Are you curious about this as well? I am seeking a dozen universities to partner with us to test this theory. If you would like to discuss a mutual interest in how we can achieve this, please connect.
Why AI cannot win the "Soft Skills" race… Alone
AI is exceptional at pattern recognition, but it fails where patterns break. Deeply human strengths — shaped by emotion, ethical judgment and complex decision-making under uncertainty — remain irreplaceable. It is precisely for this reason that I believe online provision of human-developed training and support is necessary in the student market. Particularly for enrolling students, who are experiencing deep emotional responses to leaving home, travelling overseas, becoming independent, learning a new culture and taking a huge step in their personal lives. These students need and deserve the human touch.
That is not to say that I don’t think AI can play a role in the delivery of this content to students. In fact, the automation of the release of human-developed content can play a major role in improving the student enrolment journey, and the student lifecycle as a whole, supporting:
· Student academic preparation
· Student enrolment decisions
· Student pre-departure support
· Student employability, and
· Institutional compliance.
Gap#3: Compliance
In 2026, we have seen big changes to government policy in various countries affecting student visa compliance. This has emerged as a massive issue in multiple markets, with some universities now on watch lists regarding visas and genuine student tests.
At Successful Graduate, we have been developing new content to add to our microcredentials which will enable universities to improve compliance measures. Once again, the issues of scale, early intervention, future student anxiety, academic preparation, employability measures, student support and dynamic regulatory requirements have been thrown into the mix together. Our commitment remains with student development, and we are delighted to be able to achieve this while supporting institutions with improved compliance measures and enrolment conversion rates at the same time.
The student perspective: Outcomes over rankings
It is on this final point that I will finish the article.
Research reveals a clear shift in student priorities. For enrolling international students, graduate employment outcomes are now the single strongest indicator of a high-quality education, surpassing university rankings and campus facilities.
Students are looking for evidence of employability support from the moment of enquiry. They are investing in their futures and increasingly selecting destinations that offer a clear "nurture track" toward job readiness.
This demand puts pressure on us to deliver early interventions. We cannot wait until graduation to discuss career skills; the conversation must start during the enrolment conversion phase.
Scaling excellence via microcredentials
The challenge for many institutions is resourcing. Developing internal content for every soft skill is time-consuming and difficult to scale. This is where the strategic implementation of microcredentials offers a breakthrough.
A robust microcredential system allows universities to:
1. Map competencies to industry needs: Aligning units with the QS Global Employer Survey priorities ensures students learn exactly what the market demands, focusing on releasing soft skills microcredentials that are most relevant to individual cohorts.
2. Incentivise the lifecycle: Releasing "Academic readiness" or "Finding part-time work" modules as rewards for applying or accepting an offer boosts conversion rates while preparing the student for arrival.
3. Enhance branding: By hosting these on a co-branded portal, the university demonstrates a tangible commitment to the student’s success.
Case studies, such as the collaboration between London South Bank University (LSBU), QS and Successful Graduate, show that students who engage with such microcredentials enrol at significantly higher rates — 15.8 percent vs 8.5 percent for those who do not — representing an 85.9 percent improvement in conversion.
Showcasing authenticity in 2026
It’s amazing to think that 31 percent of candidates use AI to prepare for interviews. Authenticity has become a differentiator. We must teach our students to showcase their unique experiences.
At Successful Graduate, we’ve found that the most impactful training focuses on the "process" of being human:
Focus on employability: We develop scalable training courses that help universities to address skills gaps through co-branded portals.
Self-awareness: Our workbooks are designed to allow students to record their self-awareness learnings and document relevant experiences. Ranks as a top skill for 2025/2026; it is only through self-reflection that a student can identify which other soft skills they need to hone.
Verbal reasoning: Encouraging students to document their decision-making, trade-offs, and emotional actions during projects.
Lived experience: Helping students frame their journey — especially early employability skills and experiences — as evidence of their soft skills development.
Conclusion: A Call for Early Intervention
The "skills gap" is not a myth; it is a persistent challenge reported by 87 percent of companies globally. As academics and leaders, our role extends beyond teaching theory to shaping the employability reputation of our institutions.
By layering soft skills training into the student journey early — through flexible, scalable digital platforms — we provide students with the "human advantage". AI may write the perfect resume, but it is the authentic, resilient, and adaptive individual who will command the premium opportunities in the 2026 workforce.