New competence-based education website resource goes live

A QAA-funded Collaborative Enhancement Project led by the University of Hull has published a new website which explores the impacts of the initiatives to implement a competence-based framework in higher education. The website provides a collection of tools, case studies, guides and information for colleagues who are interested in using competence-based education (CBE).

The CBE model developed at Hull focuses not only on what students should know but what they can actually do.

Or, as Mike Ewen, the Head of the Teaching Excellence Academy at the University of Hull, told the QAA podcast in April, ‘it's a focus not just on the knowledge and the subject we deliver but how we can build the student – the human traits of the student.’

Underpinned by an emphasis on  inclusive engagement in education, Hull’s CBE model stresses opportunities for students' development of self-awareness, disciplinary and professional experience, and knowledge management.

The website explains how this approach is based around the development of programme competencies – which focus on those things that students should be able to evidence they can do as graduates of a course. These competencies are intended to replace traditional modular and programme-level learning outcomes.

The website also includes materials on writing, levelling and assessing competencies, as well as more information on the University’s Inclusive Higher Education Framework in which this approach sits, and QAA's own guidance on competence-based education models.

You can find out about all QAA-funded Collaborative Enhancement Projects on our website. We have supported 66 projects directly involving over 146 providers and partners since launching the scheme in 2020. The projects are funded from QAA Membership and provide a wealth of insights and practical resources for our members and the UK sector more widely.