Anticipating Skill Needs and Adapting Higher Education

This report examines how countries assess and forecast future skill needs through Skills Assessment and Anticipation (SAA) exercises. The goal of this analysis is to support policymakers, education authorities and stakeholders involved in workforce and higher education planning. It provides insights and practical examples to help design effective SAA systems that guide training, education and career choices. The report reviews 17 national exercises, highlighting their design features, methodologies and how results can inform higher education and workforce planning. The review finds that, high-performing systems generally involve a core SAA exercise and multiple complementary exercises with different time horizons and units and high stakeholder engagement. They combine quantitative and qualitative methods to make the most of both approaches and ensure the use of SAA outputs by presenting them clearly and by supporting SAA users in accessing and understanding the information.