CHAPEL HILL – As the UNC system reexamines its strategic goals for the next five years, university officials have turned to employers and business leaders to identify key needs—and the result of that will be a new focus on a novel academic approach called “competency-based learning.”

That’s according to UNC president Tom Ross, who says today’s business leaders want people who can think and communicate effectively for themselves.

“When we talk to people–business leaders and other employers of all types–they tell us what they need more than anything else who can think critically, who can write and communicate orally, who can understand how to use data, how to look at a variety of different disciplinary concerns to solve problems, (and) how to work in teams,” Ross says. “Those are the core ‘competencies’ that employers need.”

More information on “competency-based education” available here, here, here, here, andhere. (Online universities have been a driving force in the CBE movement so far–most notably Western Governors University, based in Utah.)

The competency-based learning approach focuses on developing broader, widely-applicable skills—like writing and critical thinking—rather than particular bits of information or specific knowledge about specific jobs. In essence it suggests a return to the liberal arts and a recommitment to developing well-rounded graduates with a strong intellectual core—a task that UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp says has been a strength of the UNC system from the beginning.

 

And while employers say they need competent workers for jobs right now, Thorp says the real strength of “competency-based learning” is in how it trains students to adapt to the as-yet-unknown jobs of the future.

“If a student is a junior in high school now…by the time they get out (of college) it’s five, six years from now–and the rate of change in the economy right now, with technology and migration, is so fast,” he says. “We need to give students the ability to teach themselves the jobs of the future, because we can’t prepare them for jobs that don’t exist yet.”

Right now, the competency-based approach is still in development. Ross says turning to it now will not only benefit today’s students—it’ll also put UNC on the cutting edge of an educational trend that’s only going to become more mainstream in the coming years.

“Really nobody’s doing competency-based education,” he says. “The assessment tools available to look at it are still in development and relatively new. So it’s new territory–but (it’s) ground we need to plow, if we’re going to be a successful university in the future.”

The focus on “competency-based learning” is part of the UNC system’s new five-year strategic plan, which the UNC Board of Governors is currently examining. The Board saw a draft of the plan at their meeting earlier this month; it’s expected to approve the final version in February.

Related Stories
‹
Ross: UNC Strategic Plan Blends Quality Education, Job Needs
CHAPEL HILL – This week, the UNC Board of Governors examined the first draft of the strategic plan that will govern the university for the next five years—and system president Tom Ross says he’s confident it will move UNC in the right direction. “What’s most exciting to me about this plan is (that) it really […]
UNC Strategic Plan Pushes Quality Education, Definition Pending
CHAPEL HILL – It was standing-room only in Chapel Hill’s Spangler Center on Thursday, as the UNC Board of Governors got its first look at a draft of the strategic plan drawn up last fall by a controversial committee–a plan that could redefine the very nature of education in North Carolina. Click here to read […]
Top Stories of 2024: The Lee Roberts Era Begins at UNC
Lee Roberts ascended to UNC's permanent chancellorship in 2024, overseeing the school's response to charged protests and emerging issues.
'Everything We Do Has Meaning': Lloyd Kramer Reflects on a Career in the Humanities
Outgoing Carolina Public Humanities director Lloyd Kramer reflects on his career, and the social importance of history and the humanities.
Dwight Stone Honored at Final UNC Board of Trustees Meeting
Dwight Stone served on the UNC Board of Trustees for six years. Now, he will serve the UNC community in a new way: as a member of the UNC System Board of Governors. The Board of Trustees recognized Stone at its final meeting of 2019 in November. It passed a resolution honoring the former chairman […]
Former UNC Board Chairman to Step Off Board Entirely
The former chair of the governing panel for the University of North Carolina system says he’s leaving his spot on the board. News outlets report Harry Smith announced on Monday that he was leaving the UNC Board of Governors in February 2020. Smith said he doesn’t have time to be on the board after starting […]
UNC Governing Board Elects New Chair, Vice Chair
The governing body of the University of North Carolina system has two new top officers. UNC officials said in a news release that the Board of Governors elected Randy Ramsey to serve as chairman and Wendy Murphy as vice chairman. They were elected Tuesday at a specially called phone meeting of the board. Ramsey is […]
UNC Board Chair Resigning from Leadership Role
Harry Smith is resigning as chair of the UNC System Board of Governors. Kari Travis of the Carolina Journal was first to report Smith stepping down. WRAL and the News & Observer then quoted Smith saying that the amount of work and the politics involved had been wearing him down. The UNC System confirmed that Smith […]
Senate Picks 6 to Serve on UNC Board of Governors
The North Carolina Senate has chosen five current members of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors to serve another four years. Senators elected six candidates on Thursday from a list of seven. Newcomer Martin Holton III of Winston-Salem was elected along with incumbents Darrell Allison, Thom Goolsby, Anna Spangler Nelson, Temple Sloan and […]
Republicans Re-elect Members to UNC Board, Despite Turmoil
North Carolina legislators are re-electing current members of the state university system’s governing board despite months of turmoil in which top administrators were forced out or left earlier than planned. On a largely party-line vote, the state House elected on Wednesday a slate of six candidates to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors […]
›