{"id":7394,"date":"2026-03-25T13:43:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/?p=7394"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:15:13","slug":"future-skills-award-build-skills-for-your-future-and-your-wellbeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/2026\/03\/25\/future-skills-award-build-skills-for-your-future-and-your-wellbeing\/","title":{"rendered":"Future Skills Award: Build Skills for Your Future (and Your Wellbeing)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I mourned the passing of the Horizon Award, but it did a bit of a phoenix thang and what arose from the ashes looks pretty cool.<\/p>\n

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Back when I started working here at Flinders (2017), they had the Horizon Award.<\/p>\n

It was pretty cool. You earned ‘points’ for engaging in extra-curricular activities that had a career focus (e.g. volunteering, professional development). If you earned enough points you’d get an award. There were levels: bronze, silver, gold and platinum and a ceremony at the end of each year to celebrate those students who had achieved a metallic level of personal and professional development.<\/p>\n

When the Horizon program ended, I was sad to see it go but I was assured that a replacement was on the way.<\/p>\n

That replacement is here!<\/p>\n

\"Its<\/p>\n

Actually, it arrived a little while back, but it’s taken me a while to get the information to profile it on BetterU.<\/p>\n

It is the called the Future Skills Award<\/em> and it is now live and available to all Flinders students. It\u2019s a flexible and structured way to develop the kinds of skills that will matter most in the future world of work \u2014 skills like creativity, adaptability, leadership, digital literacy and lifelong learning.<\/p>\n

Naturally, one of the things I like about it (me being in the wellbeing world) is that the program isn’t just traditional work skills (i.e. Excel for beginners). It is more about strengthening the personal qualities that support career and entrepreneurial success. Things like resilience, curiosity, confidence, creativity and flexibility. These are things I’d be trying to cultivate in a wellbeing program and yet here they are in a Careers setting. Cool \ud83d\ude0e<\/p>\n

The Award sits within the Future Skills Program<\/em>, run by the New Venture Institute (NVI)<\/a>. The Future Skills Program blends hands\u2011on workshops with self\u2011paced online learning to help students develop the unconventional and in\u2011demand skills that are shaping new and emerging industries. The Award is essentially a semi-structured way of engaging with the skills program in a way you can get formal recognition at the end.<\/p>\n

In the Award there are six skill tracks, each representing a future\u2011focused capability. Complete all six to earn the full Future Skills Award (I really hope it is a medal or garish trophy) or just do the tracks that interest you most. You’ll receive a digital badge for every track you complete (I wish it was an actual badge. I have a denim jacket needing decoration).<\/p>\n

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Yeah, you know you want this jacket<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The six tracks are:<\/p>\n