The Workforce Competencies in 21st Century and the Role of University

Universities and higher education institutions are facing significant changes in the 21st century. In addition to teaching and research, they also try to empower students for working spaces. With the comprehensive development and application of information and communication technology, the ability and capability of the workforce to use these technologies as much and better as possible is an undeniable necessity. In this century, jobs in all sectors of society have adapted to information and communication technologies. In terms of employment, the expansion of information technology has led to the increasing growth of the information sector as compared with the production sector. It seems that the main task of people is to create, process and work with information. For this reason, we see the growth rate of the information workforce, the superiority of information jobs and the shift in the distribution of jobs. The aim of the current research is to review previous studies to identify the dominant competencies and values for the workforce in the 21st century. Two methods involve Systematic Literature Review and Thematic Analysis were used in this research. At first, related studies were retrieved and screened; then, all the factors and themes related to the technological competencies of the workforce were identified and extracted. In the next step, these factors were categorized in two categories including main categories and sub categories. The main themes are: information management, participation, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, moral awareness, cultural awareness, self-direction, lifelong learning, and attitude.