THE FUTURE OF SOFT SKILLS TRAINING: INNOVATIONS IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM

The purpose of the article is to highlight the transformation of the status of soft skills in the higher education system based on the analysis of research on the scientific and pedagogical discourse on the concept of sustainable development education. Modern educational strategies are formed considering the dynamics of socio-cultural progress, which determines the priority areas of higher education development. The objectives of the article are focused on highlighting the benefits of introducing soft skills in the institutional, content, functional, and methodological dimensions. The methodological basis of the work is a literature review of works that describe the process of integrating soft skills into the higher education paradigm. The article analyses the implementation strategies and specifics of the integration of soft skills in the university education system. The results of the study identify several options for positioning soft skills in the educational process in relation to fundamental skills: complementation, correlation, synergy, autonomy. The study proposes a dynamic approach to determining the status of soft skills in the higher education paradigm, in order to take into account external influences on the educatio nal space. Thus, soft skills are gradually gaining a clearly defined status in the higher education paradigm and ensure the formation of relevant competencies in students. Prospects for further research are to improve the process of interaction between flexib le and fundamental skills in the context of sustainable development of higher education.