What is the EHEA?
In June 1999, the ministers of higher education of 29 European countries signed the Bologna Declaration which lays down the fundamental principles in order to create the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).
The EHEA has led to a change in teaching methods which focus on the student’s learning process, promoting improvement in the quality and international competitiveness of higher education in Europe to increase mobility and recognition of European university degrees.
With a view to creating skilled and competent professionals, a programme or degree in the new EHEA framework is not only defined according to a prescriptive list of core, optional and free-elective subjects that have to be studied. Now the degree is established as an education project of the university that proposes it.
There are currently 46 European states participating in the EHEA. Apart from EU member states, these also include countries from the European Free Trade Association and countries from Eastern and Central Europe.
What is competence?
Competence is the group of skills that a person puts into practice when carrying out their professional and academic activity in an efficient, independent and flexible way.
To achieve competence involves the combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that enable a qualified person to undertake the resolution of problems in academic, professional or social contexts.
In higher, university and adult education, competence-based design helps us to prepare programmes based on academic and professional profiles that meet the environment’s needs. Not just a list of subject matter or content to be taught or learnt, the design according to competences contributes to reducing the distance that exists between education and the reality of the labour market that has traditionally characterised the university institution.
How are the competences classified in the UOC?
They are divided into three groups: specific to the qualification, transversal and inherent to the UOC.
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