THE IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPING STUDENTS' TECHNOLOGICAL SKILLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION FOR THEIR FUTURE QUALITY OF LIFE

Digital technologies have been playing an increasingly relevant role in the personal, social, academic, and professional lives of all citizens, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the technological skills development is a central issue for any country's education and development policies. Throughout school life, young people in primary and secondary education, and later, in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), to a greater or lesser degree, have the opportunity to build and develop various skills, namely technological. These will certainly be useful in their academic, social, and professional future life. In this way, it is intended to study which technological skills are built and developed by higher education students and what their perception about the importance of technological skills in employment, personal life, and social relationships in the future. There will be a literature review that will serve as a basis for the design of an online questionnaire to be applied to HEIs students, to verify which areas of technological skills (based on the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens) are most developed and understand repercussions they may have on the professional, personal and social future of these students and for their future quality of life. The questionnaire was tested, reviewed by experts, and applied to students from three public education institutions located in the North, Centre, and South of Portugal. A summary of the results obtained with this questionnaire is presented.