Developing a Skills Portfolio for Quantitative and Programming Skills in Environmental and Geoscience Education

The importance of quantitative education is increasing in environmental sciences. This may entail a systematic restructuring of course offerings and topics in many faculties. At our institute, we also have identified a need for bachelor’s students to demonstrate and communicate their competence in specific quantitative skills that are relevant to their careers beyond university. To achieve this, we have redesigned the quantitative curriculum for bachelor’s environmental science students and are implementing a “Certificate de Compétence,” or a skills portfolio that describes the specific and general quantitative skills they have accumulated over their studies.

The skills portfolio is a formal document that outlines and validates the quantitative competencies acquired by Bachelor students. It emphasizes “hard skills,” such as programming, numerical modeling, statistical data processing, version control, and reproducible workflows, as well as essential “soft skills,” including ethical AI practices, teamwork, and critical code assessment. Additionally, students will develop transferable skills through the creation of a version-controlled eBook hosted on GitHub, which will serve as a portfolio of their work.

We present the process of formulating the skills portfolio within our faculty and the reasons for its potential importance. Our choices in choosing what skills to highlight and the document’s desired outcomes are also discussed.