Promoting Skills for Innovation in Higher Education

Higher education plays an important role in providing people with skills for innovation, but a number ofimportant questions remain as to what kind of higher education teaching can be conducive to the strengtheningof skills for innovation. This report aims to shed light on this issue by reviewing the current evidence on theeffectiveness of problem-based learning compared with more traditional approaches in higher educationteaching. It explores the extent to which problem-based learning can be an effective way to develop differentdiscipline-specific and transferable skills for innovation. Research, primarily from the field of medicine, showsthat problem-based learning appears to be beneficial in fostering certain aspects of skills for innovation. Inaddition, the report explores the literature on direct teaching behaviours that may help foster student learning inmore traditional teaching settings. Despite the promising evidence linking problem-based learning and effectiveteaching in higher education to certain aspects of skills for innovation, more work is needed in this area. There isstrong potential for further research to provide additional important insights into the development of skills forinnovation.