Upskilling has become essential in today’s competitive global job market, prompting higher education institutions to rethink traditional learning models and focus more on practical skills, career development, and digital innovation. The Global Studies Institute (GSI) in Qatar is one such forward-thinking institution leading this transformation.

The Global Studies Institute (GSI) is a pioneering educational institution that provides access to world-class university education locally through partnerships with globally recognized universities such as Arkansas State University.

By offering competitive undergraduate and graduate programs in digital technology, design, and engineering management systems, GSI bridges the gap between international academic standards and local access. With a mission to empower students with globally recognized skills and credentials, GSI leverages advanced digital platforms to eliminate geographical barriers and prepare graduates for real-world success.

The Challenges: Bridging Learning, Upskilling, and Employability

Like many modern institutions, GSI faces key challenges in delivering high-impact education:

• Maintaining a consistent quality of education within a localized context
• Ensuring active student engagement and hands-on skill-building
• Digitally tracking and verifying learner progress and achievements
• Managing multiple upskilling and career development initiatives efficiently
• Connecting academic learning with real-world career readiness

Recognizing the importance of holistic student development, GSI introduced a structured and measurable upskilling framework, the Impact 360 Program.

Impact 360: GSI’s Comprehensive Upskilling Initiative

The Impact 360 Program is designed to enrich the university experience while ensuring students graduate with practical skills, professional confidence, and industry readiness.

This initiative, mandatory for scholarship students and encouraged for all learners, requires students to dedicate around 6 hours a week to three key pillars:

1. Work or Volunteer Experience – gaining exposure to real-world environments
2. Online Self-Learning & Workshops – exploring emerging fields like AI, digital skills, and soft skills
3. Career-Building Activities – from CV writing and mock interviews to public speaking and wellbeing sessions

Scholarships are linked to successful participation, reinforcing the importance of continuous learning and accountability.

Students record their hours, track progress, and receive consistent feedback through structured reporting and regular workshops, ensuring transparency and engagement across the program.

SOLO’s Role: Powering Impact 360 with Smart Digital Infrastructure

To run the Impact 360 program effectively and at scale, GSI partnered with SOLO Network, a leading digital credentialing and workforce readiness platform. SOLO provides the digital backbone for managing, tracking, and verifying every element of the Impact 360 experience.

Here’s how SOLO supports GSI:

• Centralized Opportunity Management: All Impact 360-eligible courses, internships, and events are listed in one place for easy discovery and enrollment.
• Activity Tracking Dashboard: Students can log completed sessions, upload reports, and track their total hours in real time.
• Transparent Review Process: Institutions can review, approve, or reject activity logs, maintaining accountability and accuracy.
• Scholarship Monitoring: Administrators can tag scholarship students, track their engagement, and generate detailed reports.
• Advanced Features: Students can customize hour entries, upload multiple internship documents, and export detailed data for administrative ease.

This seamless integration ensures transparency, scalability, and efficient progress tracking, helping both students and administrators stay aligned with program goals.

SOLO Solutions Enhancing GSI’s Mission

Beyond Impact 360, SOLO supports GSI in several critical areas of academic management and digital transformation:

• Student Onboarding: Secure, invitation-based account setup for learners
• Course & Event Management: Simplifying the execution of multiple workshops and learning sessions
• Career Pathways: Structuring student journeys toward professional growth
• Digital Credentialing: Issuing verified OpenBadges and certificates for achievements
• Bulk Issuance: Streamlining large-scale certificate and badge distribution
• Impact 360 Management: Centralizing reporting, progress monitoring, and scholarship tracking

Results and Early Impact

Since the rollout of SOLO, GSI has achieved measurable progress in scaling its upskilling and credentialing initiatives:

• 136 invitations sent for student onboarding
• Active learners tracking progress on the platform
• Active courses and events supporting ongoing skill-building
• Digital credentials issued and multiple certificate templates designed
• Live career pathways established to guide learner development

These milestones lay a strong foundation for full-scale implementation of the Impact 360 program, reinforcing GSI’s vision to create a future-ready student community equipped with globally recognized skills and verified credentials.

Through its collaboration with SOLO, the Global Studies Institute is redefining how education, technology, and employability intersect. The partnership not only enhances operational efficiency but also empowers students to showcase verified, real-world skills that make them stand out in the job market.

By integrating digital credentialing, progress tracking, and structured career pathways, GSI is setting a benchmark for how institutions can leverage technology to create meaningful, skill-driven education systems.