Why Higher Education, International Education, and Skilling Must Converge

For a generation of learners facing intense change, we can’t afford three separate journeys: one for degrees, another for study abroad, and a third for skills. Kept in silos, each underdelivers. When combined, they help students build a solid base, think globally, and stay ready for today’s work.

Tertiary education continues to correlate with stronger employment outcomes, but credentials alone are not enough to guarantee a fit with fast-moving labor markets.

Demand is booming. About 264 million people are in higher education, over twice the number in 2000, and nearly 6.9 million study abroad. International study is now mainstream, not a niche. This scale forces a rethink: learning must be portable across borders and stackable across time.

Yet students still encounter three frictions. First, recognition: credits, prior learning, and short courses often fail to “talk” to one another across countries. The good news is that policy is catching up. UNESCO’s Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications, now in force, commits states to recognize foreign higher-education qualifications unless substantial differences are shown. That principle should extend to quality-assured micro-credentials and work-based learning.

Second, timing: the pathway from admission to employability is rarely designed as a single plan. Canada’s recent changes illustrate why planning must integrate admissions, work rights, and skill development from day one. Canada has set a 437,000 cap on study permits this year. A Provincial/Territorial Attestation Letter is now required, which may change how long the process takes and the province you choose.

Third, relevance: companies want analytical thinking, basic AI skills, leadership, and a sustainability mindset. These require continuous upskilling alongside formal study. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2025 consolidates the employer view across over 1,000 major firms and shows how these capabilities are rising through 2030.

What does convergence look like in practice?

Stackable Pathways

Keep the degree as the base, then plug in short, skills-focused badges that employers want. The EU’s shared framework for micro-credentials (quality, clear info, and how they stack) makes learning portable and cumulative.

Embedded Mobility

Mobility should be designed as part of a curriculum: short exchanges, virtual mobility, and transnational options recognized within the degree. The UNESCO Global Convention helps make learning in one country understood and accepted in another.

Work-integrated Learning

Provide hands-on practice tied to the needed jobs through co-ops, apprenticeships, lab rotations, and real projects. The energy sector proves it: with 67.5 million jobs and clean energy growing past fossil, a degree works best when it’s paired with practical, job-ready skills.

Recognition by Design

Every pathway should specify how credits, micro-credentials, and prior learning stack toward a degree (or a higher qualification) and how that stack is recognized across borders. Without this, students collect figurative badges that employers and registrars don’t understand. Policy frameworks exist; we need implementation at scale.

The stakes are not abstract. The ILO says a skills mismatch is when employers want skills that learners don’t have. This gap hurts wages, lowers productivity, and leaves graduates frustrated. A unified journey, where academic learning, mobility, and skill acquisition are planned together, directly reduces that gap.

From my vantage point, working with institutions, governments, and industry, here are design principles we should adopt:

One Learner Record

Students need a secure, portable skills transcript that travels with them: degree credits, verified micro-credentials, WIL artifacts, and references so that admissions officers and employers can trust the evidence at a glance. (The EU’s micro-credential guidance is a strong starting point.)

Shared Outcomes Dashboards

Universities and partners should publish transparent outcomes, such as placement, earnings bands, licensing pass rates, so students can choose pathways with confidence. Evidence always beats marketing.

Sector Alignment

Target growth domains, clean energy, AI-enabled services, advanced manufacturing, and co-design curricula with employers. The IEA and WEF data make those needs visible; curricula must follow the signal.

Mobility with Purpose

Tie exchanges and internships to recognized learning outcomes that stack back into degrees. The UNESCO Global Convention provides the recognition backbone; institutions must operationalize it.

My view is simple, students need one map, not three brochures. A degree should open the door, not end the journey. Going abroad expands horizons and contacts; skilling keeps you job-ready. When the pieces work under clear rules, students get hired quicker, and communities get the right people in the right roles.

I’m asking for one joined-up pathway built by universities, government, and employers: global, industry-aligned, and steady even when policies change. We have the scaffolding, the signals, and the data. Now we need delivery at scale, with learners at the center.

About the Author

Sanjay Laul,
Founder of MSM Unify