Competency Based Education – Current Global Practices

Abstract

[EN] Competency Based Education (CBE) is considered an alternative to face the lack of individuals with the appropriate labour abilities. A state of the art on CBE in terms of the practices being performed by main worldwide universities/colleges is presented. Main promoted competencies include effective communication, critical thinking and lifelong learning. Also, teaching and practice activities are determined such as real life situations and simulations. Regarding competency assessment techniques, a mix of them is used to guarantee the desired competency level. Achievements of competencies are reported with a pass or not pass grade and with narrative transcripts. CBE benefits from student's perspective are also determined. The main advantage of CBE is that measures what a student can do after completing a program. It is also flexible, as universities/colleges of any size/age can incorporate it at different levels, which depends on their resources and strategies. Even though CBE has proven to solve a global problem, the gap between the supply and demand of skillful people can only be reduced if all the concerned parties work together in a coordinated manner.