Pan-Canadian Forum A Future Built on Skills

  • Français
Future Skills Center logo
Français
Polygon Created with Sketch. Home | Research
Research

What Are Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions Saying and Doing? Social and Emotional Skills

Canadian post-secondary institutions are not prioritizing social and emotional skills acquisition for students, despite their growing importance to employers. More emphasis must be placed on ensuring students develop these skills.

Key Takeaways

1

Despite strong employer demand for social and emotional skills (SES) like creativity and problem-solving, post-secondary institutions (PSIs) as a whole aren’t prioritizing them.

2

Only one in five post-secondary strategic plans mention holistic SES development.

3

To prepare students for career success, PSIs must give more weight to social and emotional skills development. To do this, they need to translate SES priorities into applied training and assessment.

Executive Summary

Employers in Canada are increasingly seeking new hires with well-developed social and emotional skills (SES) and are moving away from hiring and rewarding workers based on their technical skills.

However, Canadian post-secondary institutions (PSIs) have not caught up with this shift. A review and analysis of PSIs’ strategic plans reveals a lack of emphasis on student acquisition of SES, with such instruction largely relegated to elective and extra-curricular activities. This issue is common to both universities and colleges.

PSIs must do more to equip graduates with the social and emotional skills they will need to succeed and thrive in the workplaces of today and tomorrow, and this focus must begin at the strategic level.

Related Content

Colleagues smiling while looking at a laptop
Research

Aligning Workforce Skills with Quebec’s Future of Work

  • October 2025
  • Commission des partenaires du marché du travail (CPMT)
Skills development in Quebec received a major boost with a three year, $20 million agreement between the Future Skills Centre and the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail (CPMT). The partnership supported CPMT initiatives that strengthened and adapted workforce capabilities to meet both current and future labour market demands in Quebec. 
1 Related Reports
Research

Adoption Ready? The AI Exposure of Jobs and Skills in Canada’s Public Sector Workforce

  • October 2025
  • The Dais
This project investigates how artificial intelligence adoption could affect Canada’s public sector workforce, examining whether AI is more likely to assist workers with job tasks or automate those tasks entirely.
3 Related Reports
Group of people sitting in row in front of speaker and clapping hands
Research

DiversityLeads: Barriers and Enablers to Advancement for Equity-Deserving Groups

  • September 2025
  • Diversity Institute, Canadian Council for Indigenous Business, University of Manitoba, Women in Communications and Technology, 30%+ Club Canada
This report identifies significant barriers that hinder career advancement and enablers that allow leaders from equity-deserving groups to succeed. It is important to track progress because what gets measured gets done, especially at a time when Canada’s workers are aging and immigration levels are lowering, leaving a widening skills and talent gap for employers.
6 Related Reports