Conference Program

In recent years, universities have increasingly been called upon to rethink their teaching practices in innovative ways, not only to enhance the effectiveness of learning processes, but also to foster the acquisition of transversal competences and life skills that are crucial for active, critical, and responsible participation in social and professional life. Within this framework, innovative teaching is often presented as a lever capable of transforming the university experience into a space of engagement, collaboration, and democratic agency. However, empirical evidence on the relationship between innovative teaching practices, competence acquisition, and the quality of student participation remains fragmented and uneven, particularly when differences across disciplinary contexts and student profiles are taken into account.

This contribution presents the results of a quantitative pilot study, complemented by a qualitative research phase currently underway, aimed at analysing the relationship between experiences of innovative teaching and the acquisition and consolidation of soft and life skills among students enrolled in Master’s degree programmes at Sapienza University of Rome. The data derive from a web-based survey conducted during the academic year 2024-2025 on a sample of just under 300 students, attending degree programmes belonging to different scientific and disciplinary areas.

The questionnaire explored a wide range of dimensions, including: the value attributed to university education; motivations, needs, and expectations regarding training and competence acquisition; patterns and styles of engagement with university life; the intensity and quality of relationships established within the academic environment; the evaluation of the effectiveness of innovative teaching practices in fostering skills and competences, with particular attention to life skills; critical aspects and strengths of the educational pathway; and future professional and relational prospects. On the basis of the collected data, specific empirical indices were constructed to capture students’ exposure to innovative teaching practices, including: the use of digital platforms by lecturers in managing teaching activities; the adoption of innovative teaching methods in the classroom; the use of innovative assessment practices; the valorisation of practical and applied dimensions of teaching; the use of advanced digital technologies; and participation in group work and project-based activities.

The analysis makes it possible to explore to what extent, and under which conditions, exposure to such practices is associated with a more effective and potentially more durable acquisition of soft and life skills, while taking into account differences across disciplinary areas and student profiles (including attendance patterns, study progress, residential status, and socio-demographic characteristics). Particular attention is devoted to the dimension of equity, questioning whether innovative teaching practices contribute to broadening opportunities for participation and engagement, or whether they risk reproducing pre-existing inequalities.

The contribution aims to provide empirical evidence to discuss whether and how innovative teaching can effectively function as a lever for the development of life skills and for the construction of the university as a “living ecosystem of democracy in action”, going beyond a conception of innovation that reduces it to the mere adoption of tools or methodologies, and instead assessing its concrete effects in terms of competences, participation, and equity.