Developing a model for enhancing university students’ communication and collaboration skills through philosophical dialogue

Purpose This paper aims to develop a conceptual model for the simultaneous enhancement of communication and collaboration competencies among university students through philosophical dialogue. The study seeks to address the fragmentation in soft skills education and the lack of integrated pedagogical designs in contemporary higher education. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a qualitative, theory-building research approach. The methodology involves a systematic synthesis of academic literature, the analytical integration of the theoretical traditions of Lipman, Habermas and Freire and the abstraction of these foundations into pedagogical design principles. Findings The study proposes a dialogue-based competency development model with a three-layer structure: (1) a philosophical foundation layer, (2) a pedagogical implementation layer organized into three dialogic phases and (3) an assessment layer integrating communication, collaboration and critical thinking competencies. The model translates philosophical dialogue from an abstract principle into a pedagogical design that can be systematically organized, implemented and evaluated in higher education. Originality/value Unlike conventional competency-based education models, this model conceptualizes dialogue as both the means and the criterion for competency development. In doing so, the study offers an integrated pedagogical framework that tightly connects educational philosophy, instructional design and competency assessment in higher education.