Skip to content
Aurora Institute

What’s New in Competency-Based Higher Education?

CompetencyWorks Blog

Author(s): Natalie Slocum

Issue(s): Issues in Practice, Learn Lessons from the Field


What's NewNews

  • In a video interview, Western Governors University President Scott Pulsipher explains how the university takes a “customer-centric” approach to higher education.
  • Experts say employers are generally accepting of online degrees, but most do not know much about competency education.
  • Kasia Kovacs of Inside Higher Ed makes the case against oversimplifying accountability in higher education—noting that focusing on any single measure too heavily creates flawed policy, and focusing on multiple measures gives a clearer picture of institutional performance.
  • Inside Higher Ed experts foresee a shift toward alternatives to the traditional college pathway with the new incoming administration, including competency-based programs, skills boot camps and employer certifications.

Thought Leadership

  • Charla Long, a competency-based expert in higher education, wrote an article on ensuring quality in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  • Deborah Everhart explores the difference between competency-based education (CBE) and competency-based learning (CBL) and offers 5 implementation tips.

New Resources

Upcoming Event: The first annual CBE best practices conference will be held in Austin, Texas on June 2, 2017. Registration is free. More details are forthcoming, but save the date.

Competency-Based Education Webinar Series

CBE Info announced the continuation of the CBE for Community Colleges webinar series this academic year. The webinars are free to attend.

There is a growing interest in competency-based education (CBE) for higher education as one of the approaches to accelerate students’ progress-to-degree while assuring the quality and validity. The CBEinfo.org webinars will help those that wish to understand how CBE can work and how they can get started on the development of CBE programs at their own institutions.

For more information including speakers, times, and registration, visit here.

Upcoming Webinars Include:

  • CBE Assessment Delivery and Proctoring, 1/18/2017
  • CBE Orientation Courses, 2/15/2017
  • CBE Completion Strategies, 3/1/2017
  • CBE Transcripting, 4/19/2017

For more news and updates in competency-based higher education, sign up for our monthly newsletter on our homepage and follow us on Twitter: @CompetencyWorks.


Author(s)