Holistic education wins over technical skills after university, says US academic

In a fast-changing world, should higher education institutions focus on teaching technical skills? The answer from one of America's top liberal arts colleges is a resounding "no".

"We are preparing students for their careers, not for their first jobs," says Adam Falk, president of Williams College in the US state of Massachusetts.

His reasoning is that within six months of graduating, the cutting edge of technology will have shifted and students will have lost their advantage. Far more effective in setting graduates up for long-standing careers is a broad education.

The head of the 200-year-old college, Falk uses the class of 1963 as an example. In the early '60s, no one could have foreseen the hi-tech world of 2013 so it would have been impossible for the college to prepare for it.

Yet this year a good number of that class returned to celebrate the 50th year since they graduated, and many have led successful careers. They have been successful not because of the specific technical tools or facts they learned at school, but because of the so-called soft skills they mastered, says Falk.

"They were successful because they had an intellectual adaptability; they were energetic; they do have an independence; they can express themselves in powerful ways, orally and in writing; they were strong critical thinkers; they were good collaborators; and they thought in interdisciplinary ways," he says.

In Hong Kong last month, as part of an Asian tour to meet alumni, Falk addressed a gathering at the Asia Society in Admiralty on a topic that has been cause for much debate in the United States: what is the purpose of a university education? Are we, as a society, making the right investment in higher education?