Professional communication skills and competencies are very important not only for those professions and areas of work that are directly related to communication, such as public relations, management, marketing, communication, etc. These skills and competencies are increasingly recognized as core competencies of any employee in any field of work. Knowledge of communication strategies, such as the ability to use various non-verbal means of communication (e.g., maintaining eye contact, requesting or giving feedback), as well as making short, encouraging verbal comments, listening without interruption, concentrating, listening to what the other person is saying, engaging and participating in the conversation, public speaking, the ability to control the tone of your voice, the ability to hear other opinions, hear what others say, and express your opinion constructively, etc., is one of the keys to success in various situations. On the other hand, it is usually not enough to just know about these skills and competences or understand their importance - it is no less important to be able to properly apply and use them in personal and professional activities in specific, also real-life situations, and the best way to learn this is through practice, tasks focused on practical activities, and the opportunity to practically apply the acquired communication and critical thinking skills, not by studying a separate subject dedicated to this purpose, but by applying appropriate study methods, such as case analysis, various types of modelling, problem solving, project works, etc., in many taught subjects. These provisions perfectly correspond to E. Dale's learning pyramid, which links the effectiveness of the method and the sensations used and the action performed, and other basic principles of constructive, active, inclusive and self-directed learning. These provisions are also confirmed by a study conducted at Šiauliai State Higher Education Institution, during which an analysis of study programs and a student survey showed direct relations between study results, student satisfaction and engagement in the study process, and the use of the aforementioned study methods for critical thinking and problem solving in the study process. This article will present a detailed analysis of the results of the aforementioned study and conclusions and recommendations for the organization of the study process in higher education, applying various study methods for the development of communication and critical thinking skills and competencies.

Keywords: Professional communication, communication skills and competencies, higher education, critical thinking, problem solving, communication in education.