Paper Nº 3133

San Juan, PR July 23 – 28, 2006

9th

International Conference on Engineering Education

T1A-1

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Luis M. Sánchez-Ruiz, Mónica Edwards & Enrique Ballester-Sarrias School of Design Engineering, Polytechnic University of Valencia

Camino de Vera Nº 14 46022-Valencia (Spain)

lmsr@mat.upv.es - moed@doctor.upv.es - eballest@isa.upv.es

Abstract - The aim of this paper is to analyse how

competence and competence-based learning have been

introduced and are currently applied in Engineering

Education in Spain. First, we provide a conceptual

overview of competences as implemented in a variety of

settings, including key concepts, definitions and efforts

carried out in order to identify, measure and integrate

competences. Second, we go on by making a critical

analysis of the information provided in projects

concerning the degrees in Engineering Education

elaborated in co-operation with the Spanish National

Agency for the Quality Evaluation and Accreditation.

Finally, we present the actions taken into consideration as

an adaptation experience to the European Higher

Education Area at the School of Engineering Design of

Valencia.

Index Terms – Competence, learning, engineering curricula,

European convergence.

INTRODUCTION

The process of Bologna started to be developed two decades

ago and represents the answer to the economic and socio-

cultural impacts derived from globalization and the advance of

the Knowledge society [1]-[2]-[3]. The fast development of

the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has

brought about deep changes in our way of working and living,

as the widespread diffusion of ICT is accompanied by

organisational, economic, social and cultural innovations. New

necessities in the knowledge production and management are

originating imbalances between the supply and the demand of

job competences, and this has direct incidence on the

formation that is being developed in higher educational

institutions [4]-[5]-[6].

In this change context, competence and competence-based

learning emerge as nuclear concepts in the majority of

European universities. The “New Engineer”, besides

unquestionable technical skills, must have abilities such as

team working, knowledge of foreign languages and cultures,

creative thinking, efficient oral and written communication,

and appropriate profile for the market needs. Furthermore,

future engineers needs to develop habits of life-long learning,

must be conscious of their social role and be able to assume

their social tasks. It is necessary to graduate professionals that

are flexible and open minded to cope with the important

changes in the present world; they need to be able to “learn

how to learn” [7]-[8].

Employers demand graduates who are able to operate in

complex environments, i. e., environments characterized by

ill-defined problems, contradictory information, informal

collaboration, and abstract, dynamic and highly integrated

processes [9]. Although in Spain employers generally have

expressed satisfaction with the technical knowledge and skills

of current engineering graduates, they usually affirm that some

competences in certain non-technical areas such as

communication ability, economics, leadership, teamwork and

management are not practically being considered in their

formation [10]-[11]. The development of these competences

are seen by employers as highly desirable and necessary. Also

Accreditation Boards, Engineering Associations, and

governments in Spain have been demanding the incorporation

of these competences for the actual and the future engineering

degrees. In this paper, we present some reflections about

competence-based education in Spain and how some

universities in engineering education areas are developing

initiatives according to this new engineer profiles competency

based.

COMPETENCES AND THE NEED OF NEW UNIVERSITY MODEL

On the last decades, Spain has undergone profound social

and economic changes that have greatly affected the higher

education system. The structural reforms and the intends to

modernize and democratize the universities, as well as adapt

the higher education system to the socioeconomic needs of the

country could be judged as very positive [12]. Despite these

approaches the actual academic culture, involving the

formative processes in which teachers and students are

implied, is not still giving a suitable answer to the new

exigencies 13].

Ginés Mora (2004) affirms that the university model in

Spain and in some European countries and Latin America,

corresponds to the necessities of a society and a labour market

that are disappearing [10]. The Spanish university model has

been conceived to give answer to a labour market

characterized by defined professions; with clear professional

attributes and competences, in many cases, legally fixed. The

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little inter-communication between the different professions

caused that the required competences were related to a

concrete aspect of the labour practice [14]-[15].

Spanish universities are now entering a new period, in

which adaptation to the dynamic change and search of high

quality will be the most important challenge. Introducing

market forces will allow the higher education system to

achieve an equilibrium in which the state (representing the

whole community), academia (representing the experts in the

production process), and the market (as the most effective

mechanism to satisfy the needs of students and employers) are

able to act in harmony [15].

There is an intense debate about these themes, trying to

identify and harmonize the perspectives of the different

stakeholders [16]-[17]. Beyond the debate, there are no doubts

that competences constitute a common language for the

harmonization of the European educative systems [17]-[18].

(Reichert y Tauch, 2003; González y Wagenaar, 2003). In the

Berlin Communiqué, the Bologna Working Group on

Qualifications Frameworks (2004) encourages Member Status

“to elaborate a framework of comparable and compatible

qualifications for their higher education systems, which

should seek to describe qualifications in terms of workload,

level, learning outcomes, competences and profile”.

The situation is too complex. Although formation based on

competences is view like one of the pillars to advance in the

harmonization and convergence towards the European Higher

Education Area (EHEA), in some European countries there is

little clarity in its conceptualization and applicability [9]-[19]-

[20]-[21]-[22]. On the other hand, research has showed it do

exist different patterns between acquired and required

competences in the Mediterranean countries and the rest of

European countries [23].

COMPETENCES: CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW

While competences and competence-based teaching and

curriculum tendencies are consolidated in diverse countries,

mainly in the Anglo-Saxon world, in the case of Spain and

other countries of Europe they have appeared recently. Until

the present in Spain competences make reference to the

professional attributes more than educative aspects or

curricular treatments.

Although competences and competency are concepts very

used in the educative area in some European countries (United

Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, France, among others) it exist an

increasing criticism about the ambiguity of its use, and the

lack of a theoretical frame [9]-[24]-[25]. There is such

confusion and debate concerning the concept of “competence”

that is impossible to identify or impute a coherent theory or to

arrive at a definition capable of accommodating and

reconciling all the different ways that the term is used [26].

Some authors consistently use competency when referring to

occupational competence [27] or treat competence and

competency as synonymous [28]. Elkin (1990) associates

competences with micro-level job performance and

competencies with higher management attributes and, in

defining managerial competencies for the future [29]. Boak

(1991) argues that competency in the American sense

complements competence as used in the UK occupational

standards [30]. Mansfield (2004) contrasts three different

usages of competence: outcomes (vocational standards

describing what people need to be able to do in employment);

tasks that people do (describing what currently happens); and

personal traits or characteristics (describing what people are

like) [31]. The few attempts to establish coherent terminology

have had little impact to date and competence is called a

“fuzzy concept” [21]-[32]; Weinert (2001) affirm that there is

no basis for a theoretically grounded definition or

classification from the seemingly endless inventory of the

ways the term competency is used. Many different theoretical

approaches exist and meanings vary depending on perspective

and underlying objectives associated with the use of the term

both in scientific discussion and in the policy discourse [33].

However, making a bibliographical analysis, three historical

approaches in the use of this term can be observed: in the

psychological field, in the business and human resource field

and in the educational one. We can compare different

definitions on the following Table I.

TABLE I EXAMPLES OF COMPETENCE DEFINITIONS IN MANAGMENET AND HUMAN

RESOURCES APPROACHES (1980-90)

Author Definition

Hamel & Prahalad

(1989)

Bunk (1994)

Gonzci (1996)

Mertens (1996)

Spencer, McClelland &

Kellner (1997)

Le Boterf (1998)

Advanced the idea of “core competencies” and

“capabilities”. Core competencies is the “collective

learning” of the organization [34].

A person who has occupational competency has the

necessary knowledge, skills and capacity to perform in a

profession, is able to solve occupational problems in an autonomous and flexible manner and is able to

contribute to his professional environment and the

organisation of work [35]. A complex structure of necessary attributes to perform

in specific situations. This has been considered a

holistic approach in the sense that it integrates and relates attributes and tasks, it enables several intentional

actions to occur simultaneously and it takes into account the context and the culture of the workplace [16].

While qualification is a group of knowledge and

capacities that individuals acquire during socialisation and training processes, competency refers only to

certain aspects of the store of knowledge and abilities:

the ones necessary to achieve certain results demanded by a specific circumstance; the actual capacity to

achieve [36].

An underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to criterion-referenced effective and/or

superior performance in a job or situation [37].

A construction obtained from a combination of resources (knowledge, know how, qualities or aptitudes

and environmental resources -relationships, documents,

information, etc.) which are mobilised to achieve a satisfactory performance [38].

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TABLE II

EXAMPLES OF COMPETENCE DEFINITIONS ON PSYCHOLOGICAL AND

EDUCATIONAL APPROACH

Author Definition

McLlelland (1973)

Grant et al. (1979)

Lasnier (2000)

Rychen &

Tiana(2004)

González y

Wagenaar (2003)

Personal competencies are motives and personality traits. Competencies are a generic body of knowledge,

motives, traits, self images and social roles and skills

that are causally related to superior or effective performance in the job [39].

Competence-based education tends to be a form of

education that derives a curriculum from an analysis of a prospective or actual role in modern society and that

attempts to certify student progress on the basis of

demonstrated performance in some or all aspects of that role [40].

Competence is a complex “knowledge in action”,

resulting from integration, mobilization and fitting of a whole of capacities and skills (being able to be of a

nature cognitive, emotional, psychomotor or social) and

of knowledge (declaratory knowledge) effectively used, in common contexts [41].

A competence is the ability to meet individual or social

demands successfully, or to carry out an activity or task. This external, demand-oriented, or functional approach

has the advantage of placing at the forefront the

personal and social demands facing individuals. This demand-oriented definition needs to be complemented

by a conceptualization of competencies as internal

mental structures: in the sense of abilities, capacities or dispositions embedded in the individual [42].

In Tuning Project (2003, p. 280) is defined as a dynamic

combination of attributes - with respect to the knowledge and its application, to the attitudes and

responsibilities that describe the results of the learning

of a determined program, or how the students will be able to develop at the end of the educative process [17].

Diverse authors argue that competence-based education was

historically based on a behaviourist model of training and

learning, within a Taylorist industrial model. In the recent

competence-based movement, a holistic approach is

normatively put forward [22]. Although a holistic approach is

in advance, the practical design of learning processes and

assessment procedures is still based on a narrow definition and

a behaviourist conception. In addition, while educators usually

define competences like indicators of profits, knowledge and

capacities, employers and economists, however, associate

them to the performance, productivity, efficiency and

professionalism. Consequently, it exist great difficulties to

establish common guidelines for program designing based on

competences.

We can conclude that providing a basic understanding of

these concepts requires a multiple and interdisciplinary

approach, with the necessary participation of various

stakeholders (particularly government, industrial bodies, the

education profession and enterprises) working together with a

common purpose.

COMPETENCE-BASED GUIDELINES IN SPAIN

In the majority of the Spanish initiatives, the holistic and

integrated approach on competences is considered, but there is

no a clear conceptual definition. In the official document

provided by the Education Ministry, called “The integration of

the Spanish Higher Education System in the European Higher

Education Area” (2003) it affirms that the official degrees will

have to provide a university formation in which the generic

competences are integrated harmonically with basic ones;

transversal competences related to the integral formation of

the people and specific competences than make possible a

professional profile that allows the graduates integration in the

work market [43].

In the last years, government promoted and sponsored the

creation of university networks in some disciplines in order to

analyse different ways of implementing the European Credit

Transfer System (ECTS) in the curriculum. The scope and

methodology adopted in the great majority of the developed

initiatives have been taken from the project “Tuning

Educational Structures in Europe” o, more briefly “Tuning

Proyect” [17]. On summer of 2000, a group of universities

took up the Bologna challenge collectively and designed this

pilot project, developing a working programme during the

period 2000-2004. As part of the methodology, Tuning has

developed reference points for first and second cycle

programmes for generic and subject-specific competences for

diverse subject areas (Engineering is not included). These

reference points have been used to define cycle descriptors. In

the framework of the Tuning project ECTS has been

developed further as an accumulation system by linking

credits to learning outcomes. Tuning makes the distinction

between learning outcomes and competences to distinguish the

different roles of the most relevant players: academic staff and

students/learners. Desired learning outcomes of a process of

learning are formulated by the academic staff, preferably

involving student representatives in the process, on the basis

of input of internal and external stakeholders (employers,

graduated, etc.). Competences are obtained or developed

during the process of learning by the student/learner.

Therefore:

Competences represent a dynamic combination of

knowledge, understanding, skills and abilities. Fostering

competences is the object of educational programmes.

Competences will be formed in various course units and

assessed at different stages.

Learning outcomes are statements of what a learner is

expected to know, understand and/or be able to

demonstrate after completion of learning. They can refer to

a single course unit or module or else to a period of

studies, for example, a first or a second cycle programme.

Learning outcomes specify the requirements for award of

credit.

Questionnaires for academics, graduates and employers were

prepared and a review of over twenty studies14 in the field of

generic skills and competences was carried out. A list of 85

different skills and competences was identified and they were

regarded as relevant by institutions of Higher Education or

companies. These items were categorised as instrumental,

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interpersonal and systemic.

Instrumental Competences: Those having an instrumental

function. They include:

• Cognitive abilities, capacity to understand and manipulate

ideas and thoughts.

• Methodological capacities to manipulate the environment:

organising time and strategies of learning, making decisions or

solving problems.

• Technological skills related to use of technological

devices, computing and information management skills.

• Linguistic skills such as oral and written communication

or knowledge of a second language.

Interpersonal Competences: Individual abilities relating to

the capacity to express one’s own feelings, critical and self-

critical abilities. Social skills relating to interpersonal skills or

team-work or the expression of social or ethical commitment.

These tend to favour processes of social interaction and of co-

operation

Systemic competences: those skills and abilities concerning

whole systems. They suppose a combination of understanding,

sensibility and knowledge that allows one to see how the parts

of a whole relate and come together. These capacities include

the ability to plan changes so as to make improvements in

whole systems and to design new systems. Systemic

competences require as a base the prior acquisition of

instrumental and interpersonal competences [17].

The Tuning methodology and its taxonomy were adopted in

the majority of initiatives developed in engineering education

in Spain.

COMPETENCES: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

The School of Design Engineering has worked in co-

operation with the Spanish National Agency for the Quality

Evaluation and Accreditation (ANECA) in pilot projects

called White Paper for the adaptation of the future engineering

degrees to European framework [44].

In these projects, other interesting and extensive studies on

competences were considered, specially the results of

CHEERS (Careers after Higher Education – A European

Research Survey) [43], The ABET criteria [46]-[47] and the

IEEE Technology Standards [48].

A set of surveys in 2004/2005 were applied to graduates,

employers and academics in five degrees of engineering

(chemical, mechanical, electrical, electronics and design).

Twenty-six competences were selected from three categories,

with the general taxonomy of Tuning: instrumental,

interpersonal and systemic. For each of the competences, the

respondents were asked to indicate the importance of the

competence for work in their profession and the level of

achievement of the competence that they estimate they have

reached as a result of taking their degree programme.

TABLA III

STAKEHOLDERS SAMPLES FOR COMPETENCE ANALYSIS AND DETERMINATION

(ELABORATION OF WHITE PAPERS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION)

N Samples

994 Employers.

2.085 Graduates of the last 5 years. 520 Electronics Eng. (E), 250 Chemical Eng. (Q), 630 Electrical

Eng. (El), 600 Mechanical Eng. (M) and 85 Design Eng. (D).

1.423 Academics.

Some of the results obtained with this study are showed in

the following Tables IV, V and VI.

TABLE IV RANKING OF SOME GENERIC COMPETENCES (N = 994 EMPLOYERS)-

IMPORTANCE LEVEL (4=MOST IMPORTANT TO 1)

Competences X

Problem-solving (ability to identify, formulate, and solve

engineering problems) 3,41

Decision-making, taking responsibilities 3,40 Planning, coordinating and organizing 3,39

Ability to apply knowledge in practice 3,30

Team-work 3,26 Motivation for quality and continuous improvement 3,26

Capacity of analysis and synthesis 3,22

The knowledge of a foreign language (2,21), recognition to

diversity and multiculturalism (2,06), work in an international

context (1,91) and knowledge of other cultures and customs

(1,72) are considered little important by the employers. These

competences are directly related to the European convergence

goals and also they are showing the low implication of the

Spanish enterprises in economic innovation [13]-[45]

TABLA V

RANKING OF SOME GENERIC COMPETENCES (N = 2.085 GRADUATES)

Competences

N

X

El

(630)

E

(520)

M

(600)

Q

(250)

D

(85)

Problem-solving 3,55 3,55 3,50 3,63 3,50 Ability to apply knowledge in

practice 3,67 3,48 3,48 3,67 3,48

Basic knowledge 3,61 3,49 3,40 3,46 3,40 Innovation 3,36 3,40 3,34 3,38 3,34

Inititative 3,52 3,37 3,33 3,38 3,33

Team-work 3,33 3,19 3,16 3,2 3,16 Decision-making 3,36 3,24 3,14 3,25 3,14

Leadership 3,21 2,96 2,98 2,96 2,98

TABLA VI

RANKING OF SOME GENERIC COMPETENCES (N = 1.423 ACADEMICS)

Competences X

Ability to apply knowledge in practice 3,47

Basic knowledge 3,44 Ability to understand professional and ethical

responsibility 3,42

Ability function on multidisciplinary teams 3,41 Critical reasoning 3,34

Problem solving 3,26

Problem solving is indicated in first place for the

employers and graduates and it appears in sixth place for the

academics. These results, in which prime the attention to the

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professional knowledge and the capacity to apply them are

coherent with the actual academic university model. It is

excessively focalized in the transmission of knowledge and it

has deficit in important skills and attitudes development.

Of another part, it is of interest to analyze the

competences from “theory" to “practice”. Although many

educational institutions display themselves with a

competency-based educational concept, on the level of

concrete educational programs and practices this philosophy

does not materialize. This may be caused by the holistic

character of competences, which confronts teachers with a

very complex concept, still in some cases undefined. The shift

from knowledge-based to competency-based education forces

teachers to change their way of thinking and working. The

traditional knowledge-based curriculum was not very

demanding with regard to the design of instruction in the form

of learning tasks. The learning materials only contained

piecemeal practices that consisting of isolated knowledge and

skills that make up the whole task. Instead, in the new

competency based curriculum, teachers have to think

holistically in terms of the whole authentic task that competent

professionals perform. It is not an easy task, and all the faculty

staff must participate in embedding the competence

educational model.

CONCLUSION

How competences are to be worked, realized and assessed and

the impact of this change, both at individual level and at the

level of European university structures, needs further

reflection and debate. It is not clear how problems related to

transportability of competency assessment and credentials

across states and institutions will be resolved. The principal

theme is future work should continue to examine issues of

transportability of learning, experiences across academic

programs and institutions by focusing on how reliability and

validity are addressed. It is important that faculty staff can

explore validate and reliable ways to design and evaluate

competence based curriculum.

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