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BUILDING AND DEPLOYMENT OF A NETWORK COMPETENCE MODEL
УДК 378.1, GG6.G15.5 Julia V. Grubova
Postgraduate student of Ivanovo State Power University, Management and Marketing Department
E-mail: jgrubova@rambler.ru
Application of a competence-based approach in university activities as a foundation for educational services quality management is grounded. A network competence model is built allowing to systematize requirements of university stakeholders.
Keywords: quality management, stakeholder requirements, competence-based approach
Юлия Владимировна Грубова
Аспирант кафедры менеджмента и маркетинга ГОУ ВПО «Ивановский государственный энергетический университет имени В.И. Ленина» E-mail: jgrubova@rambler.ru
ПОСТРОЕНИЕ И РАЗВ'РТЫВАНИЕ СЕТЕВОЙ МОДЕЛИ КОМПЕТЕНЦИЙ
B статье обоснована актуальность применения компетентностного подхода в деятельности вуза как основы управления качеством образовательных услуг. Построена сетевая модель компетенций, позволяющая систематизировать требования заинтересованных сторон вуза.
Ключевые слова: управление качеством, требования заинтересованных сторон, компетентностный подход
1. Introduction
Successful professional work and career growth in a modern society require not only specific theoretical knowledge and practical skills, but also ability of their harmonious combination and application. From the standpoint of competence-based approach, a set of competences provided by a university includes capability to apply knowledge and skills to successful activities, as well as personal qualities and capabilities [1].
The term "competence-based approach" is spread in the Russian educational system as a counterpart of an expression "competence-based education" used in a number of West European professional education systems [2]. Competence-based approach is a method for modeling education results as its quality norms [1]. A competence is an ability to apply knowledge, skills and personal qualities for successful activities in a certain area. [3]. A competence model of a professionally oriented specialist ensures mobility of graduates in changing conditions of a labor market [4].
2. A problem of competence systematizing
A difficult and versatile problem concerns definition and systematizing of competences provided as a result of mastering a certain educational program. At governmental and intergovernmental levels it is reflected in such documents as the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the drafts of the new generation Federal State Educational Standards for Higher Professional Education (hereinafter referred to as the Standards) [3]. The principles of revealing the competence structure and composition founded in the drafting of the new generation Standards have been widely discusses for a number of years by authoritative researchers (V.I. Baidenko, N.A. Selezne-va, L.G. Semushina, Yu.G. Tatur, I.N. Borodulin, I.G. Galyamina, A.S. Kazurova, S.V Korshunov, N.I. Maximov, L.A. Trubina, A.A. Shekhonin etc.) [1, 5]. As a result, the drafts of the new generation Standards are focused on university graduates' possession of general cultural and professional competences grouped by professional activities types.
During training of a "finished specialist" a university must consider requirements of the external environment in which he or she would be working. For instance, a manager must be familiar with the fundamentals of personnel management and know people's psychology, have teamwork skills, be able to think systematically and analyze information, possess leadership qualities and grammatical speech, be stress resistant etc. These and other competences of future graduates may be present as requirements of the state in the drafts of the new generation Standards, while their own specific requirements are demanded by the active groups of stakeholders. Under the active groups of stakeholders we imply two most significant groups of consumers directly connected to university's educational activities that have the most considerable impact upon it and demonstrate substantial community of interests within each group: the first group includes individual consumers of educational services mastering educational programs - students and learners whose interests are intersected with university entrants (prospective services consumers), parents and other persons impacting their motivation and decision making; the second group includes labor market participants - employers, including state and municipal authorities, having demand for professional personnel and employing university graduates who have mastered educational programs, as well as employers having demand for training their employees. Thereby, the competence-based approach, being a link between the educational process and employers' interests, is a methodological foundation for educational services quality management and a guideline for decision making in stakeholders' requirements management.
The state requirements for the graduates' competences are rather wide and capacious, and the Standards leave some freedom to educational institutions in expanding and enhancing the set of competences, based on the requirements of specific consumers. Already now leading companies and state authorities formulate their requirements to personnel in the language of competences. Development and implementation of so-called "competence profiles" describing requirements to certain personnel categories (top executives, line managers, administrative staff etc.) are now an integral part of effective management of many multinational companies.
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Modern French researchers interpret a competence as a combination of possible actions - emotional, cognitive and psychomotor, allowing an individual to carry out complex activities, and suppose that a competence may be divided into smaller components - sub-competences, micro-competences and specific competences. They also operate a category of a minimal competence - a special level of knowledge and skills considered as acceptable, depending on one or more criteria [6, 7].
3. A network competence model
Specific competences reflecting certain requirements of different groups of educational services consumers may be connected by multiple explicit and implicit interdependencies that may be more accurately described by a network model. Network-based competence identification allows an educational institution to consider interdependencies between them, simultaneously covering priority requirements of privileged consumers and less significant requirements of other consumers and thus facilitating endeavor to a higher extent of stakeholders' requirements satisfaction.
We suggest a three-level network model for competences being formed during providing educational services, as a result of research and detailing of educational institution stakeholders' requirements (fig. 1).
The Competence level (the first level of the model) reflects the requirements of the state assembled in the new generation Standards, which are formulated in a most generic way and serve as a guideline for results of providing educational services process. Competences which a university must provide during mastering an educational program are listed and structured but not limited by the new generation Standards. The Competence level cannot be corrected by a university or its departments: it cannot be influenced or edited, it must be complied with. Therefore a department as a decision making center must follow up interdependencies between competences influenced upon by itself and competences set up by the state. At the same time a set of competences in the Standards is not exhaustive. Considering long duration of an educational process and volatility of the environment, we cannot rule out the possibility of providing additional first-level competences by a university department, based on the information received from educational services consumers.
Fig. 1. A network competence model
The Micro-competence level (the third level of the model) reflects demands of specific knowledge, skills and personal qualities formulated by active groups of stakeholders. Micro-competences reflect multidirectional stakeholders' requirements directly formulated by them, having different levels of formalization and a more narrow view if compared to first level competences. There exists a large set of micro-competences demanded by active groups of stakeholders, as each of them may have its own system of requirements. Employers are interested in competent specialists possessing knowledge, skills and personal qualities specific for their branch, field of activities, or a specific company, so they tend to formulate
requirements to specific narrow micro-competences of a graduate instead of generic competences. Students, entrants and their parents, in their turn, may lodge their requirements to educational services in the form of specific micro-competences.
The Sub-competence level (the second level of the model) is made up by a university by aggregating and systematizing micro-competences reflecting requirements of active groups of stakeholders. Sub-competences are a link between specific and multiple consumer requirements and mandatory requirements to quality of educational services. On the one hand, an educational institution receives information on micro-competences from active
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groups of stakeholders, on the other hand
- it cannot influence on the set of competences listed in the Standards. Sub-competences reflect the university's sphere of influence and conform to its level of decision making for educational services quality management and response to changing stakeholders' requirements.
A network concept of the model implies multiple non-hierarchic connections between competences at different levels
- the same micro-competences may correspond to several sub-competences, while the same sub-competences may be revealed in several competences.
Thereby, a university department arranges a logical chain of active groups of stakeholders requirements — from small and diverse to systematized and ordered. It must be emphasized that the new generation Standards only prescribe "what to do" but provide no strict frameworks for a university "how to do", therefore a university may select its own approach to comply the requirements of the Standards. It should also be remembered that besides main educational programs a graduating department may offer complementary programs of professional education to consumers, the contents and forms of which it is free to select independently.
4. Conclusion
The suggested network model for competences being formed during an educational process reflects the results of research, detailing and systematizing the requirements of university stakeholders to competences. A united structure built as its result within an educational program serves as a foundation for managing these requirements, and a network competence model is an important component of a university quality management system.
References
1. Baidenko V.I. Revelation of the structure of university graduates' competences as a necessary stage of drafting of the new generation SES HPO: methodical textbook. - M.: Research center for problems of specialists training quality, 2006.
- 54 p.
2. Baidenko V.I. A competence-based approach to drafting of state educational standards of higher professional education (methodological and methodical issues). - M.: Research center for problems of specialists training quality, 2005.
- 114 p.
3. Drafts of FSES of higher professional education / Ministry of Education and Science ofthe Russian Federation. - URL: http://mon.gov.ru/pro/fgos/vpo/
4. State educational standards of higher professional education: development prospects / Edited by Ya.I. Kuzminov et al. - M.: Logos, 2004. - 328 p.
5. Drafting of new generation state educational standards of higher professional education: methodical recommendations for UMO management of the Russian Federation higher educational institutions. - M.: Research center for problems of specialists training quality, Coordination council of UMO and NMS, 2005.
6. Bondarenko E.N. Outlook of professional competences of a modern teacher in different countries of the world // Higher education today. - 2009. - №1. -P. 42-44.
7. Accueil et formation initiale des professeurs d'ecole dans les classes. (Cahier des charges). - Versailles: IUFM de Versailles, 1999.
Литература
1. Байденко В.И. Выявление состава
компетенции выпускников вузов как необходимый этап проектирования ГОС ВПО нового поколения: методическое пособие. - М.: Исследовательский центр проблем качества подготовки специалистов, 2006. - 54 с.
2. Байденко В.И. Компетентностный подход к проектированию государственных образовательных стандартов высшего профессионального образования (методологические и методические вопросы). - М: Исследовательский центр проблем качества подготовки специалистов, 2005. - 114 с.
3. Проекты ФГОС высшего профессионального образования / Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации. - URL: http://mon.gov.ru/ pro/fgos/vpo/
4. Государственные образовательные стандарты высшего профессионального образования: перспективы развития: монография / Под ред. Я.И. Кузьминова и др. - М.: Логос, 2004. -328 с.
5. Проектирование государственных образовательных стандартов высшего профессионального образования нового поколения: методические рекомендации для руководителей УМО вузов Российской Федерации. - М.: Исследовательский центр проблем качества подготовки специалистов, Координационный совет УМО и НМС, 2005.
6. Бондаренко Е.Н. Воззрения на профессиональные компетенции современного учителя в различных странах мира // Высшее образование сегодня. - 2009. - №1. - С. 42-44.
7. Accueil et formation initiale des professeurs d'ecole dans les classes. (Cahier des charges). - Versailles: IUFM de Versailles, 1999.
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