Report on Essential Skills for Success in Higher Education (2024)

This report provides an analysis of essential skills required for success in higher education. It emphasizes the importance of skill development for students, categorizing skills into note-taking, self-organization, and time management. The report explains each skill, providing definitions, strategies, and advantages. Note-taking skills are discussed in terms of techniques and stages, including pre-lecture preparation, active listening, and review. Self-organization skills focus on taking responsibility, planning, and prioritizing tasks for efficient work. Time management skills are highlighted as making the best use of available time and understanding the importance of prioritization. The report concludes by reinforcing the importance of these skills and suggesting additional skills such as communication and presentation for academic and professional success. The appendix includes a SMART goals section, which outlines a plan for skill development with planned actions and completion dates.

Orientation for Higher
Education

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
SKILL ANALYSIS.........................................................................................................................3
Note-taking skills........................................................................................................................3
Self- organisation skills..............................................................................................................4
Time management skills.............................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES
..........................................................................................................................................................6
APPENDIX......................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Skills can be used as a synonym for competency. In order to develop competency an
individual needs to work on all of their skills as they help in developing a competitive advantage
for them. Skills can also be classified into various categories such as personal skills,
interpersonal skills, knowledge- based skills and so on (Bauer and Liou, 2020). Skill analysis
helpful in studying development of these skills in an individual and ways in which individuals
can work on them. A number of skills such as note-taking skills, time management skills, self-
organisation skills, communication skills, presentation skills etc. which are required by a student
while completing their higher education. It becomes essential for them to develop these skills
and efficiently work on them to successfully complete their education. The following report
discusses about some of such skills and an action plan to develop those skills in order to
successfully complete the higher education.
SKILL ANALYSIS
Note-taking skills
Note taking is an essential skill which can be learned by an individual and effectively
applied on various aspects such as during work or even during studies. It can be defined as a way
in which important information is recorded so that it can be used to recall later. There are a
number of factors involved in notes- taking skills. Notes taking skills also involves good
listening skills. It is necessary that an individual is listening carefully and jotting down every key
point in order to take advantage from it later. In higher education notes may majorly consist of
some new vocabulary, theories and so on.
The process of notes-taking is divided into three stages. These includes before the lecture
or class, during it and after classes. A student is required to work through all these three stages.
In the stage before class they are requires to pre read the chapters and keep themselves updated
about the further lecture (Hill and et. al., 2019). During the lectures they require to listen actively
and jot down important points while after the class they need to go through notes and re check it.
Also, there are a number of different ways that can be used by individuals in notes making such
as visual mind mapping, The Cornell method, the sentence method, Charting methods and so on.

Self- organisation skills
Self- organisation refers to a situation when individuals take responsibility for their own
actions and to improve their own abilities. It is essential for a student to manage themselves and
develop skills of self-organisation. One can easily cultivate the habits of self-organisation within
themselves. There are a number of ways in which students can learn to be organised. They can
focus on planning everything in advance, jotting down important notes, keeping away from
unfruitful activities and keeping things in an organised manner. Students are required to learn
and practice in order to develop self-organisation skills.
Self organisation skills include a number of different skills in it. In order to develop self-
organisation skill an individual is required to work on their overall aspects. This may start from
setting up of objectives and then creating various plans and strategies in order to reach those
strategies. Along with it a student needs to make schedules, prioritize all the tasks, eliminate
unwanted tasks and only work on important activities (Sotiriadou and et. al., 2019). There are a
number of advantages that are brought by self organisation. It brings in speed and assure the
completion of tasks on deadline. The quality of work is also increased with the help of self-
organisation skills. A student also becomes agile and as the priorities the change they can easily
adapt with changes and take the required steps to do what is required.
Time management skills
Time management skills refers to making best utilisation of time available to an
individual. It is an important skill to develop as the resource that is time is only limited and no
matter how hard one tries the time they have in a day will only be 24 hours, which cant be
increased. Therefore, making best use of the time is necessary for students to achieve their goals.
The concept of time management lies in understanding clearly the difference between urgent and
important. The tasks which are urgent may ask for immediate attention but not be necessary but
important tasks cannot be ignored as ignoring them may have various negative consequences.
Based on these two concepts a priority matrix is developed which explains the tasks based on
their importance and urgency (Hollister, 2019). After prioritising the tasks schedule can be
prepared including all the important tasks and the time allotted for their completion.
While completing their higher education it is necessary for students to develop time
management skills which will help them to work on important tasks and keep away from tasks
that are neither important nor urgent and just wasting their time. Effective time management

skills will help a student to complete their work on time along with better quality of work. The
productivity will increase along with quality of life. Time management skills also help to reduce
stress and anxiety in an individual.
CONCLUSION
There are a number of such skills which are required to be developed by students in order
to smoothly complete their higher education. They will also help them to get competitive
advantage over other students in class with the help of which they can stand out in their field. All
these skills will improve their overall performance in class. The report also concludes various
ways in which students can effectively develop these skills for their own benefits. Other than the
three skills highlighted in report there are a number of other skills which can be focused upon by
students. Listening and communication skills, presentation skills, writing skills are various skills
which will help a student academically as well as professionally in future.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bauer, K.D. and Liou, D., 2020. Nutrition counseling and education skill development. Cengage
Learning.
Hill, M.A. and et. al., 2019. Undergraduate recognition of curriculum-related skill development
and the skills employers are seeking. Chemistry Education Research and
Practice, 20(1), pp.68-84.
Sotiriadou, P. and et. al., 2019. The role of authentic assessment to preserve academic integrity
and promote skill development and employability. Studies in Higher Education, pp.1-17.
Hollister, C.E., 2019. Globalization, Student Participation in SciFest, 21st-Century Skill
Development, and Female Student Interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics Courses in Secondary Schools in Ireland, Such as St. Josephine’s
Secondary School (Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California).

APPENDIX
SMART Goals
Skill Planned Action Completion Date
Notes-taking skills
Read about various types of notes
making. Practice it effectively during
lectures. Review notes after every
class.
15 days
Self-organisation skills
Work on various skills, eliminate
unfruitful activities, review
performance and results every week
45 days
Time management skills
Make schedules for every day, work
on weekly and monthly schedule as
well, prepare priority matrix and allot
time to all tasks
30 days