Key competences expected of future it leardes in a multicultural and digital Europe

This paper is presenting an analysis of key competences for future high-level IT engineers as part of the FIT-Europe project which stands for “Future IT leaders for a multicultural, digital Europe”. Apart from reasserting the prominence of very strong scientific, methodological, and technical competences, and the key importance of basic behavioural and soft skills, this paper is outlining several emerging competences. We start by presenting a review of the academic literature regarding relevant skills and competences with a particular emphasis on the “Recommendations on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning” which were adopted by the European Council on 22 May 2018. We complement this review by analysing national professional initiatives and the input provided within FIT-Europe through round table discussions. We proceed by presenting an analysis of key competences for future high-level IT engineers by categorizing these competences in three classes: (i) IT Scientific, Methodological, and Technical Competences; (ii) Understanding the Digital Transformation; (iii) Behavioural and Soft Skills.