Building Future-focused Skills from International Mobility Experience: Perspectives of Vietnamese Academics

Future-focused skills (FFSs) is an umbrella term identified by multiple international organizations to describe the kinds of attributes that individuals need to be successful in the interconnected world of the 2020s and beyond. International mobility experience has been supported in the literature to enhance participants’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions beyond the domains of their degrees. However, limited empirical research has explored the development of FFSs in mobility schemes for early or mid-career professionals studying postgraduate degrees around the world, especially in Western contexts. Built on a PhD study, this article reports the perspectives of Vietnamese academics of FFSs and their growth in FFSs from participating in mobility experiences in over 10 English-speaking countries. A thematic analysis of 132 survey respondents and 20 in-depth interviews revealed their beliefs, engagement, and influential factors for their FFSs development. This provides important implications for participants and stakeholders of international mobility programs worldwide.