High Educ (2014) 68:503523

DOI 10.1007/s10734-014-9725-1

Do higher education institutions make a difference

in competence development? A model of competence
production at university
Manuel Salas Velasco

Published online: 15 February 2014

 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Abstract This paper proposes a model of competence development required of graduates

at work which suggests that universities make a difference when they add value to their
students. They add value by ensuring that their modes of teaching and learning, and
assessment positively enhance the competencies of their students which are important in
the labor market. Our results have clear implications for policy in the Bologna process.
One of the main challenges facing higher education institutions in Europe is to transform
their current pedagogical practicesthe lecture continues to be the dominant teaching
methodinto competence-based teaching as a response of universities to labor market
needs. In this paper, econometric evidence shows that innovative methodologies used by
Spanish universities play a key role in competence development. This is consistent with the
view that education raises productivity; finding that refutes some theories which suggest
that education may be no more than a screening device which allows employers to identify
the more able potential employees from the rest. Besides the importance of formal academic institutions, firms appear to be sources of learning and skill formation as well.
Keywords Competence development  Graduate job market 
Ordered logit models

Introduction
In the second half of the twentieth century, due mainly to computerization and changes in
the work organization, advanced countries started to move from economies that demanded
for labor factor toward economies that demanded for competencies: physical strength has
being replaced by mind strength. The competitiveness and performance of national

M. Salas Velasco (&)

Department of Applied Economics, School of Business, University of Granada,
Campus of Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain
e-mail: msalas@ugr.es

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economies were inherently linked to the productivity of resources, considering many

countries skilled workers increasingly important for productivity. An educated population
is thought to generate social spillovers as well. Policies to expand education have put
pressure on gaining greater access to tertiary education in many OECD countriesuniversities can provide a wide range of options to acquiring advanced knowledge and skills.
On average, in all OECD countries with comparable data, participation rates in tertiary
education grew by 7 % points from 1995 to 2005 (OECD 2007). However, effective
universities require the right combination of trained and talented personneland motivated students ready to learn, and adequate facilities (LCD projectors replacing old
blackboards, well-equipped computer labs, etc.). Contemporary teaching is concerned not
only with imparting knowledge but also with developing skills and strategies for further
learning.
Despite the release of relevant works which explore the skill requirements for jobs and
competencies possessed by university graduates (Garcia-Aracil et al. 2004; Allen et al.
2007; Teichler 2007a, b), little work has been done to identify conceptually or empirically
the contribution of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the development of those
competencies. This paper proposes a theory of graduate competencies which suggests that
HEIs matter when they add value to their students. They add value by ensuring that their
modes of teaching and learning, and assessment positively enhance the competencies or
abilities of their students which are important in the labor market. This is consistent with
the view that education raises productivity. Besides the importance of this issue in aspects
related to efficiency (accountability), it is also key nowadays because the Bologna process
had the central objective of creating an European Higher Education Area by 2010. Greater
compatibility of the different national European education degree structures has been
achieved through significant reforms, and now the challenge is to work on quality, namely
the content and profile of qualifications.
In order to analyze how universities prepare graduates for the labor market requirements, in terms of competencies, this paper uses the data set provided by the European
Commission funded project, the so-called REFLEX project (short for Research into
Employment and professional FLEXibility). The target population was, in thirteen European countries, students who graduated in the 19992000 academic year. The survey,
undertaken in 2005, contained questions about the university education, the transition from
higher education to the first job, and the labor market situation 5 years after they had left
higher education.1 This article will focus on the Spanish casethe data set contains
information on almost 4,000 young Spanish graduatesand we will try to identify the
major competencies that are required to graduates by employers and the extent to which
Spanish HEIs have provided a solid basis for developing these competencies.
The structure of the paper is as follows. Section The economics of competence formation presents a brief literature review of the economics of competence formation, and
then Sources of competence formation among graduates section discusses the sources of
competence formation among graduates. Next, To what extent do graduates own competencies meet their job requirements? Evidence from Spain section shows the competencies possessed by Spanish university graduates and qualification requirements for their
jobs. Research questions and methods section introduces the research questions and
methods, and the results are shown in Competence development among Spanish graduates: The role of modes of teaching and learning, and assessment used by HEIs section.
The paper ends with a summary and policy recommendations.
1

Further information can be found at http://www.fdewb.unimaas.nl/roa/reflex.

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505

The economics of competence formation

This section presents a brief literature review of the economics of competence formation,
with special emphasis on the importance of competencies for the labor market and economic growth.
The impact of competencies on labor market outcomes
The growing importance of skills in the labor market has encouraged many countries to
make attempts to improve their educational and training institutions in the last decades.
Rising education levels, mainly university education, actually improve skills, a fact which
is relevant for economic growth, but educational expansion is also seen as an important
policy tool when trying to reduce economic inequality (increased earnings associated with
increased education). For example, Altonji et al. (2008) showed how the supply of skills of
American young adults changed between 1980 and 2004 across the distribution of skills;
overall, the 1997 youth cohort was more skilled than the 1979 cohort. They compare
various skill measures of participants in the NLSY-1979 panel survey and participants in
the NLSY-1997 panel survey at age 22. They consider the standard skill measures of
completed schooling and cognitive test scores, but they also look at factors that influence
skill acquisition, such as parental education and growing up in a two-parent family.
However, the question remaining is to what extent rising education levels improve not
only cognitive skills but also non-cognitive skills of the population. We are sympathetic to
the claim that non-cognitive skills may play an important role for learning and labor
market outcomes. Bowles et al. (2001), Heckman et al. (2006), and Lleras (2008) review
extensively this literature and provide empirical support. Still, we know little about the role
of the educational institutions in the development of non-cognitive skills.
The economics literature suggests that there is an impact of cognitive skills (and skill
growth) on earnings. Using data from two longitudinal surveys of American high school
seniors, Murnane et al. (1995) showed that basic cognitive skills had a larger impact on
wages for 24 year-old men and women in 1986 than in 1978. For women, the increase in
the return to cognitive skills between 1978 and 1986 accounts for all of the increase in the
wage premium associated with postsecondary education. However, more recent studies,
both in the field and in the lab, indicate that non-cognitive skills are also associated with
considerable economic advantages including wage premia (Heckman and Rubinstein
2001). Much of the neglect of non-cognitive skills in analyses of earnings, schooling and
other lifetime outcomes is due to the lack of any reliable measure of them. Heckman
(2000) identifies non-cognitive skills with productive factors not captured by standardized
tests or observable measures of human capital. These are the skills valued by employers or
clients that do not involve technical or professional knowledge.
Skill formation and economic growth
Productivity gains can be seen as the main engine of growth. Productivity growth can be
generated either by imitation or by frontier innovation, with innovation becoming
increasingly important for growth as countries get closer to the world technology frontier
(Vandenbussche et al. 2006). Imitation and frontier innovation each require different
institutions and policies. Thus, while investment in primary and secondary education is
more likely to make a difference for a countrys ability to implement existing technologies,
higher (particularly graduate) education investment has a bigger effect on a countrys

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ability to make leading-edge innovations. It is widely agreed that the productivity growth
of the industrialized economies is mainly an ongoing intellectual achievement, a sustained
flow of new ideas (Lucas 2009).
Countries that have high skills in their workforces and high tech are up the top of the
OECD productivity league tables. The complementarity between skills and technology
adoption is particularly strong, and is manifested through three channels. First, skilled
workers are more adept at dealing with changing technologies. Second, the availability of
more skilled workers creates incentives for firms to adopt and develop new technologies
that are more skill intensive (Acemoglu 1998). Third, skilled workers, engineers and
scientists are required to produce adaptations of existing technologies and even more to
create new ones.
In this way, teaching and research activities of universities are responsible for skill
enhancement of the population and the development and transfer of technology. Therefore,
governments should encourage peoples participation in higher education. In fact, participation in tertiary education increased in almost all OECD countries in the late 1990s
(OECD 2005).2 The increases in enrolment were mainly attributable to higher participation
rates rather than an increase in population at the relevant ages. Yet, the investment gap in
higher education between Europe and the United States is considerable. In 2005, the
proportion of the total population with higher education amounted to 39 % in the US
compared to only 24 % in the EU, although the gap is narrower for the younger population.
This educational attainment gap is mirrored by a gap in expenditure, with the US devoting
3.3 % of its GDP to higher education versus only 1.3 % in the EU. In any case, the key
question here is not how many years of education an individual has, but the relevant
question is what this individual can do with the years of education he/she has. In other
words, it is not simply going to school but only actual learning that counts for economic
growth. For example, Hanushek and Kimkos paper (2000) concentrates on the importance
of labor force qualitymeasured by cognitive skills in mathematics and scienceon
economic growth. By linking international test scores across countries, a direct measure of
quality is developed, and this proves to have a strong and robust influence on growth.
Obviously, if there are inefficiencies in the market for skill formation, and it is quite
likely that there are, there is a potential case for some government intervention. If higher
education and training activities do render educated/trained individuals more productive,
and if improvements in productivity for some workers/activities spill over to others
(positive externalities), then the government should subsidize both higher education and
training. There may be spillovers both within and between firms so that gains to the
economy as a whole exceed those accruing to the educated/trained individuals. For
example, the employment-relevant skills which firms require from graduates may be
general, which are transferable (with the employee) from firm to firm. For general skills it
is likely to be more efficient to provide these at the supra-firm level since the public good
element to this type of knowledge will cause individual firms to under-invest in it. HE is
therefore an obvious location for this type of training. The problem is how economists
forecast skill needs, how the economy responds to a lack of skills and the economic
consequences of not anticipating skills needs. More importantly, given that we do not fully
understand the nature of the externalities, it is difficult to know how the optimal policy
should look like.
2

However, the expansion of higher education in the 1990s created a situation in which increasing numbers
of graduates were unable to access employment that required and valued graduate skills and knowledge
(Elias and Purcell 2004).

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Sources of competence formation among graduates

During the most recent decades, the competence concept has been used for the development of vocational education and training. There are various approaches to and definitions
of the concept of competence. In terms of approach, there have been three main traditions
in competence research since the middle of the last century: the behaviorist, the generic,
and the cognitive (Mulder et al. 2007). The behaviorist approach stresses the importance of
observing successful and effective job performers and determining what differentiates
them from their less successful counterparts. The Bologna process is said to be based on a
behavioristic competence model. In relation to the definition, competence comprises
knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Biemans et al. 2004). The notion of competence relates to
what a person is able to do at work, rather than his or her knowledge or general personal
characteristics (Arnold et al. 1999).
In the context of higher education, the competencies possessed by university graduates,
understood as those talents, skills and capabilities, c, can be seen as the output of a
production process of human capital where the inputs include school resources, x, and nonschool resources, z. School inputs are primarily those related to the HEIs such as the
number of academics, computers available to the students, etc., whereas non-school inputs
are mostly exogenous factors to the HEIs which contribute also to develop competencies in
the individualse.g. years of education of the parents, books at home, etc. Although a vast
literature has discussed whether or not school resources are effective in raising educational
outputs (Hanushek 1996, 2002), for our discussion here we will suppose that additional
resources are useful and effective (their marginal productivities are positive):
c c x; z;

o c oc
;
[ 0
o x oz

However, in practice, some problems arise when describing the production of human
capital. The most important difficulty is to find a proper quantitative measure of the output.
Several approaches have been used in applied works (Felstead et al. 2007): educational
attainment, occupational classification, skill tests, self-assessment, and job requirements.
Alternatively, some studies have used earnings as a proxy variable, assuming that workers
are paid the value of their marginal product (Davis and Haltiwanger 1991; Dunne et al.
2004). Yet, what constitutes a suitable measure of output is still quite controversial.
At the university level, because grades are measurable and may correlate positively with
learning, some papers have used students grades as a proxy for learning outcomes. The
grade production function specification implicitly assumes that the students choose the
optimal amounts of effort inputs (class attendance and homework completion), given their
ability and educational goals (Douglas and Sulock 1995). In the database generated by the
Reflex project, average university marks are available. Nevertheless, we consider that
grades are not a good proxy for the output of the educational production process since
grading policies vary from one university to anotherand from one degree to another, and
from one instructor to another. Alternatively, although we have information on wages
earned by young university graduates, we feel that they are not proxying correctly the
output because salaries also entail an important firm component that reflects things such as
the firms compensation policies, rent sharing and workers bargaining power within the
firm. We have also an important percentage of graduates working for the public sector
where salaries are not necessary a reflection of their productivity. Personnel classifications
and wage structure in the Public Administration are mainly predetermined in Spain by the

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administrative legislation of public function. Instead, the approach used to assess competence acquisition process among university graduates will be based on the answers to the
question How do you rate your own level of competence? (See Fig. 1 in To what extent
do graduates own competencies meet their job requirements? Evidence from Spain
section).3
Although graduates responses to the question about the acquired level of competence
provide a self-assessment of the level of competencies built up during higher education, the
acquisition of different abilities can be done also out of the campus. Life cycle skill
formation is a dynamic process in which early inputs strongly affect the productivity
(Heckman 2006). Family environments play a key role in shaping cognitive and noncognitive skills at different stages of the life cycle of the child. Production of individual
human capital can also be associated to experiences in the neighborhood, in responsibilities
held in student organizations or other clubs (Scouts, music bands,), internships, summer
jobs, etc. Additionally, it should be taken into account the fact that graduates in the Reflex
survey had to assess their level of competencies at the moment of the interview (around
5 years after graduation), so their professional paths since they left the higher education
system and more recently, their current work, enables them to acquire or develop these
competencies. In short, due to the information on the acquired level of competence is
obtained from the source closest to the actual job situation, the analysis should look after
the fact that personal skills can be acquired, developed and improved in the workplace
trough learning by doing and formal training programs.

To what extent do graduates own competencies meet their job requirements?

Evidence from Spain
The REFLEX project, as mentioned earlier, was a representative survey undertaken in
2005 covering more than 31,800 graduates in 13 European countries 5 years after they had
left higher education. Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom took part in
the project, and the analysis in this paper uses the data set generated by the research team
focusing on the Spanish case. Among other questions, the REFLEX survey addressed
information with respect to demand for and supply of competencies. Specifically, graduates
were asked to rate on a scale from 1 (low extent) to 7 (very high extent) to what extent 19
different competencies were required at their current jobsthe post held around 5 years
after graduation, on the one hand, and to what extent they possessed those competencies
(own level), on the other hand.4
Figure 1 shows the results of the self-evaluation of both levels of competencies, those
required and those possessed by Spanish university graduates. The competencies rated as
highly required related to: (1) mobilizing their own capacities (using time efficiently,
3

Asking them to assess their own level of competence in the 19 domains included in the master questionnaire there is the possibility that graduates are doing an overestimation of their competencies. However,
controlling for the possible effects of self-overestimation is not possible in this survey, although there are
studies that show that among university graduates there is more honesty in responding and the effect of
possible bias is minimal or nonexistent (Schmidt and van der Molen 2001).

Questions on competencies in REFLEX were: A. How do you rate your own level of competence?; B.
What is the required level of competence in your current work? Answers to A?Individuals human
capital; Answers to B?Human capital needed for job; Difference A-B: deficit (-) or surplus (?) of
competencies.

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509

performing well under pressure); (2) mobilizing others (working productively with others,
coordinating activities, making meaning clear to others); and (3) having good specialist
knowledge (mastery of own field, ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge). Overall,
graduates considered their levels of competence matched their current job requirements
rather well. With the exception of Ability to make your meaning clear to others, where
Spanish graduates show a lightly deficit, for the rest of competencies there is a match, or
even surplus, of competencies (e.g. Willingness to question your own and others ideas or
Ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge).
Looking at the results obtained, it is noticeable that interpersonal competencies (such as
making meaning clear to others or ability to work productively with others) appear to be
more important at work than cognitive competencies (such as ability to write and speak in
a foreign language or knowledge of other fields or disciplines). At the same time that noncognitive skills are more demanded in job positions than cognitive skills, the results
indicate that the most required competencies in the graduate labor market are mainly
transferable skills, in other words, skills learned in one context that are useful in another.
However, surprisingly, some competencies that are believed to influence labor market
activities, such as negotiation ability or languages, are not seen as important in the Spanish
graduate labor market.

Research questions and methods

The relationship between higher education and the world of work was revived in the late
1990s as a major issue of debate in Europe. As mentioned earlier, the professional professions confronted by dramatic changes in terms of competencies, mainly due to the
globalization of economies, moved towards a knowledge-based society and technical
development. In this context, the teaching and research functions of HEIs have an
important role to play in national development, particularly in the development of skilled
workforce. Thus, this article tries to answer the following research questions for the
Spanish case:
1. How have higher education graduates acquired the most required competencies for job
effectivenessthe top six competencies shown in Fig. 1?
2. To what extent are HEIs providing students with those competencies?
3. In particular, is there a positive effect of the modes of teaching and learning, and
assessment during higher education in this process of competence development?
The Reflex survey asks young graduates on various personal characteristics and
educational experiencesinside the university but also out of campusand allows
identifying their individual effect on the competence acquisition process. We explain the
level of ability acquisition through econometric analysis, running equations separately for
each of the following competencies: (1) ability to make your meaning clear to others; (2)
ability to use time efficiently; (3) ability to work productively with others; (4) ability to
perform well under pressure; (5) ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge; and (6) ability
to coordinate activities.
The regression equation to explain the competence production process becomes:
y f x; z e
where: y is the dependent variable: competence development which we proxy by the
Spanish graduates self-assessment to the question about the acquired level of competence.

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Ability to make your meaning
clear to others
7
Ability to use time efficiently

Ability to write and speak in a

foreign language
Knowledge of other fields or
disciplines

6
5

Alertness to new
opportunities

Ability to work productively

with others
Ability to perform well under
pressure

Ability to negotiate effectively

Ability to rapidly acquire new

knowledge

2
1

Ability to present products,

ideas or reports to an
audience

Ability to coordinate activities

Ability to come up with new

ideas and solutions

Ability to mobilize the

capacities of others

Mastery of your own field or

discipline

Willingness to question your

own and others ideas
Analytical thinking
Ability to assert your
authority

Required level (mean)

Ability to use computers and

the internet
Ability to write reports,
memos or documents

Own level (mean)

Fig. 1 Competencies required in the current job and competencies possessed: self-assessment of Spanish
graduates. 1 (very low) to 7 (very high) The figure depicts in a descending order the mean values of the
ratings given to the question about the required level of competence Source Authors calculations

x is a vector of independent or explanatory variables of our interest: the contribution of

Spanish universities to competence development/enhancement through their modes of
teaching and learning, and assessment. z is a vector of other explanatory variables of
control such as:
Gender and other personal characteristics of the respondents, such as age or fathers
education.
Educational background, such as secondary school grades, university degree or
duration of the degree.
Experiences during higher education, such as internships or study abroad.
Years of work experience since graduation.
The term e is a random disturbance which represents certain non-observable factors
(e.g. unobserved individual-level heterogeneity of learning ability).
The ordered nature of the dependent variablethe self-assessment of a competence or
ability on an ordered seven-point scalerecommends an ordered logit model to be
specified. In econometrics, the ordered logit model (also ordered logistic regression), is a
regression model for ordinal dependent variables. It can be thought of as an extension of
the logistic regression model that applies to dichotomous dependent variables, allowing for
more than two (ordered) response categories. Examples of multiple ordered response
categories include opinion surveys with responses ranging from strongly agree to
strongly disagree. The ordered logit model has come into fairly wide use as a framework
for analyzing such responses (McKelvey and Zavoina 1975).5
5

The discussion here is, of necessity, rather brief and interested readers are urged to consult McKelvey and
Zavoina (1975) where the model and estimation procedure are described in detail.

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511

The model is built around a latent regression. We begin with (Greene 1997):
y x0 b z 0 a e
as usual, y* is unobserved. What we do observe is:
y 0 if
1
if
2
if
..
.

y   0;
0\y   l1 ;
l1 \y   l2 ;

lJ1  y;

if

which is a form of censoring. The ls are unknown parameters to be estimated with b and a.
The model cannot be consistently estimated using ordinary least squares; it is usually
estimated using maximum likelihood. The beta coefficients quantify the impact of the
modes of teaching and learning, and assessment in the acquisition of competencies. All
other things being equal or held constant, positive coefficients mean that a higher value of
the associated variable implies a greater probability of possessing a competence.6
Our explanatory variables of interest, the contribution of the universities to the competence development/enhancement, are proxied by the following modes of teaching and
learning, and assessment:
Assignment-based assessment (e.g. written essays or reports; work with other students;
or oral presentations).
Tutorials (e.g. small group teaching, research seminars, or problem-solving sessions).
Teacher-focused teaching.
Examinations (e.g. multiple choice questions; or analyses of cases/texts).
Lectures.
These five methods come from the application of a principal component analysis (PCA)
to the answers given by graduates to the original question in the questionnaire: To what
extent were the following modes of teaching and learning emphasized in your study programme? (1 = not at all; 5 = to a very high extent). The options were:

Lectures.
Group assignments.
Participation in research projects.
Facts and practical knowledge.
Theories and paradigms.
Teacher as the main source of information.
Project and/or problem-based learning.
Written assignments.
Oral presentations by students.
Multiple choice exams.

If we had incorporated directly this latter information as independent variables, we

would have had serious problems of multicollinearity. Principal component analysis is
6

The variable y* is a continuous latent variable which cannot be observed. In reality, what we have is a
form of data censoring where parameters called mu have to be estimated alongside the betas and the alphas.
See Greene (1997) for further details. The y variable, which is an observed variable, takes, in our case, the
values on a seven-point scale given by the surveyed. For the econometric analysis using LIMDEP software,
answers were recoded from 0 to 6.

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precisely a variable-reduction procedure that creates factor scores that will account for
most of the variance in the observed variables. The analysis provides orthogonal factor
scores that are completely uncorrelated (Dillon and Goldstein 1984). Table 1 present the
factor load matrix resulting from PCA where five factors capture 73 % of the overall
variance.
It is clear from Table 1 that different teaching and assessment methods are appropriate
to different learning aims. The theoretical aspects of the influence of different modes of
teaching and learning, and assessment in the development of competencies among college
students have been discussed by Entwistl (2003)and by Salas Velasco et al. (2012), among
others. For example, lectures contribute to develop the ability to analyze and interpret
information; practical sessions are very useful in order to develop the capacity to solve
problems or the capacity to apply knowledge to practical situations; or computer lab
sessions enhance the ability to analyze and search for information from different sources
(Salas Velasco et al. 2012).

Competence development among Spanish graduates: The role of modes of teaching

and learning, and assessment used by HEIs
Table 2 reports the maximum likelihood ordered logit estimates which inform of the
factors that contribute to the accumulation/development/enhancement of competencies
among young Spanish higher education graduatesabilities which they self-reported as
key to succeed in todays workplace. In each regression, the dependent variable is a seven
category ordered measure of competence. The results show that Spanish HEIs do really
make a difference cultivating abilities in their university studentsafter controlling for
other factors that are also important explaining competence development. Nevertheless,
there are in fact differences among the five pedagogical practices considered.
First, ceteris paribus, all teachinglearning strategies have a positive contribution
(statistically significant) to the development of the Ability to make your meaning clear to
others. However, assignment-based assessment has the greatest impact on the development of this competence, being lectures which show the least impact. In this regard,
Dunkins (1983) review of the lecture research indicated that the appropriateness and
effectiveness of the lecture method was primarily dependent upon teaching goals. In
instances where the goals were student satisfaction or factual learning, lecture was as
effective as discussion. However, in terms of higher-order thinking skills lecture was less
effective than discussions. McKeachie et al. (1986) also concluded that lecture, in comparison to discussion, was less likely to promote other learning outcomes such as critical
thinking skills, problem solving, and knowledge transfer.
Second, assignment-based assessment is the only effective method to develop the
Ability to use time efficiently. This competence is important in academic settings. Students are constantly faced with deadlines and have specific outcomes (e.g. assignments) to
produce within a specified time period. Because emphasis is placed on deadlines and
outcomes, it is imperative that individuals use their time efficiently; the inefficient use of
time might result in several undesired or unpleasant outcomes, including low grades and
psychological stress. Deadlines can also act as a catalyst for cognitive and behavioral
habits development such as motivation or self-discipline. However, the implementation of
this methodology it is not always easy. On the one hand, the majority of the Spanish public
universities face to a problem of massification where the format of the class is still lectureoriented in the majority of degrees. On the other hand, many instructors see this method as

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0.04

Tutorials

Assignment-based
assessment

Bold indicate values greater than 0.25

Source: Authors calculations

Rotation method: varimax with Kaiser normalization

Extraction method: principal component analysis

Component score coefficient matrix

-0.02

0.42
-0.01

Oral presentations by students

Multiple choice exams

0.61
-0.15

-0.16

-0.21
0.43

Project and/or problem-based learning

-0.04

0.30

Written assignments

0.14
-0.14

Theories and paradigms

Teacher as the main source of information

0.47

0.14
-0.11

Participation in research projects

Facts and practical knowledge

-0.02
0.01

0.00
0.29

Lectures

Group assignments

Factor 2

Factor 1

Teacher-focused
teaching

-0.03

0.00

0.11

0.06

0.53

0.71

-0.03

-0.02

-0.03

-0.08

Factor 3

Table 1 Application of a principal component analysis (PCA) to the different modes of teaching and learning, and assessment

Examinations

0.97

0.02

-0.08

-0.14

0.00

-0.04

0.13

-0.02

0.05

-0.03

Factor 4

Lectures

-0.02

-0.07

-0.08

0.01

0.52

-0.37

0.09

-0.25

0.10

0.80

Factor 5

High Educ (2014) 68:503523

513

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3.272**
2.063**

8.13E-02

0.125

0.122

Tutorials

Teacher-focused teaching

Examinations

10.808**

Assignment-based assessment

0.101

0.371

9.17E-02

Study-related work experience during higher

education

-0.311

-2.40E-02

5.30E-02

-9.93E-04

Programme had a broad focus

Average study hours per week

9.36E-02

1.569
-0.468

-0.407

0.151

Services

Programme was generally regarded as

demanding

Participated in work placement/internships

-1.007
3.426**

-0.346

Health and welfare

Spent time abroad during HE for study/work

-2.314**

-0.790

Agriculture and veterinary

-2.907**

1.170

0.948

-3.988**

-4.192**

-0.481

-0.681

Science, mathematics, and computing

-3.595**

Engineering, manufacturing, and

construction

6.52E-02

-0.476

Humanities and arts

Social sciences, business, and law

Ref.
8.73E-02

0.23

0.14

0.56

37.86

3.55

3.69

7.17E-03

0.12

4.27E-02

0.15

0.14

0.33

1.83E-02

4.60E-02

3.68E-02

2.04E-02

2.83E-03

-3.36E-02

0.278

0.101

-0.129

-0.503

-0.573

-0.433

-7.65E-02

4.77E-02

Ref.

0.39

Education

-0.083

7.01E-02

2.44E-02

6.99E-03

4.50E-02

-6.86E-03

0.00

4.182
7.77E-02

Lectures

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

Type of degree (short cycle programme)

3.690**

2.272**

3.753**

4.970

0.140

Constant

0.586

0.374

0.267

1.355

-0.991

6.302**

0.251

-0.863

-2.513**

-3.528**

-2.658**

-0.578

0.573

0.581

0.543

0.661

0.208

1.270

2.100**

9.373**

t-ratio

0.23

0.14

0.56

37.86

3.55

3.69

7.17E-03

0.12

4.24E-02

0.15

0.14

0.33

8.76E-02

0.39

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

Mean of X

Coefficient

Mean of X

Coefficient

t-ratio

Ability to use time efficiently

Ability to make your meaning clear to

others

Table 2 Factors explaining competence development among Spanish university graduates: the role of the HEIs

-2.082**

0.170

-2.62E-02

4.30E-02

4.35E-03

5.30E-02

0.216

-1.05E-02

2.115**

-0.266

0.558

2.055**

1.553

4.856**

-0.026

-0.818

-0.422
-0.124

-1.786*

-1.170

-2.781**

0.127

2.299**

-0.554

3.080**

2.021**

1.276

5.004**

9.003**

t-ratio

-0.294

-0.194

-0.373

2.27E-02

Ref.

0.193

-1.89E-02

0.1149

6.91E-02

4.56E-02

0.189

4.071

Coefficient

0.23

0.14

0.57

37.87

3.55

3.69

0.01

0.12

0.04

0.15

0.14

0.33

0.09

0.39

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

Mean of X

Ability to work productively with

others

514
High Educ (2014) 68:503523

-0.250

-9.50E-03

1.441

2.597

4.048

5.389

7.236

Less than 2 years of experience

Between 2 and 4 years of experience

More than 4 years of experience

Mu(1)

Mu(2)

Mu(3)

Mu(4)

Mu(5)

3207
-4642.885
142.7187
0.0000

Log likelihood function

v2

P (v2 [ value)

148.286**

141.507**

86.656**

32.480**

11.558**

0.54

0.31

-1.743*
-0.068

9.11E-02

0.57

2.88

0.25

29.85

0.64

7.11E-02

-2.931**

0.607

0.860

Number of observations

Dependent variable: How do you rate your

own level of competence?

Ref.

-0.497

No paid work since graduation

4.05E-02

Enrolled in additional formal study/training

programmes

0.539

4.14E-02

3.20E-02

Father with higher education

Average final examination grade secondary

education

0.979

1.10E-02

Age

0.741

5.40E-02

Woman

0.347

4.71E-02

6.919

5.206

3.942

2.658

1.260

0.442

0.244

-9.33E-02

Ref.

7.53E-02

5.79E-02

0.145

-1.26E-02

0.403

-0.209

0.0000

184.5142

-4762.14

3208

146.824**

138.860**

86.778**

37.350**

10.627**

3.110**

1.677*

-0.550

1.133

1.556

1.892*

-1.198

5.557**

-1.587

t-ratio

0.54

0.31

9.13E-02

0.57

2.88

0.25

29.85

0.64

7.11E-02

Mean of X

Coefficient

Mean of X

Coefficient

t-ratio

Ability to use time efficiently

Ability to make your meaning clear to

others

Interrupting the study programme for 4 or

more months

Table 2 continued

5.817

4.122

2.974

1.836

1.120

0.357

0.291

0.146

Ref.

3.77E-02

-8.12E-02

6.98E-02

-1.56E-02

0.265

7.94E-04

Coefficient

0.0000

175.46

-4520.96

3205

130.662**

105.165**

57.694**

23.770**

11.647**

2.530**

2.024**

0.861

0.558

-2.166**

0.914

-1.450

3.616**

0.006

t-ratio

0.54

0.31

0.09

0.57

2.87

0.25

29.85

0.64

0.07

Mean of X

Ability to work productively with

others

High Educ (2014) 68:503523

515

123

123

6.45E-02

2.21E-03

Programme had a broad focus

Average study hours per

week

-0.245

-9.06E-02

9.25E-02

Health and Welfare

0.211

-0.400

Agriculture and Veterinary

Services

0.133

Engineering, Manufacturing,
and Construction

Programme was generally

regarded as demanding

0.619

-5.81E-02

Science, Mathematics, and

Computing

1.040

1.914*

4.806**

-1.999**

0.821

-0.355

0.803

0.107

Social sciences, Business,

and Law

2.242**

Ref.

0.394

-1.662*

Humanities and Arts

-0.136

Type of degree (short cycle

programme)

0.776

-0.888

Education

2.88E-02

-3.00E-02

Examinations

Lectures

2.997**

4.83E-02

1.439

0.106

Tutorials

Teacher-focused teaching

8.145**

1.689*

3.647

6.28E-02

Assignment-based
assessment

37.84

3.55

3.69

7.17E-03

0.12

4.27E-02

0.15

0.14

0.33

8.73E-02

0.39

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.011

-5.43E-02

4.46E-03

1.51E-02

0.235

2.08**

0.44

5.209**

-0.141

-0.706

-0.204
-0.107

0.117

1.317

0.714

2.596**

0.992

-0.798

1.544

4.980**

1.990**

1.106

11.226**

1.93E-02

0.220

9.60E-02

0.459

Ref.

8.23E-02

-2.74E-02

5.84E-02

0.171

7.19E-02

4.16E-02

5.064

t-ratio

37.86

3.55

3.68

7.17E-03

0.12

4.21E-02

0.15

0.14

0.33

8.79E-02

0.39

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

Mean of X

Coefficient

Mean of X

Coefficient

t-ratio

Ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge

Ability to perform well under pressure

Constant

Table 2 continued

-7.07E-04

7.57E-02

0.240

0.529

-0.572

-0.419

-0.168

-0.370

-0.320

-5.63E-02

Ref.

1.63E-02

2.30E-02

5.28E-02

6.70E-02

0.104

0.180

3.249

Coefficient

-0.331

2.237**

5.437**

1.269

-3.808**

-2.124**

-1.028

-2.243**

-2.411**

-0.320

0.199

0.675

1.420

1.974**

2.924**

4.828**

7.334**

t-ratio

37.87

3.55

3.68

6.88E-03

0.121

4.25E-02

0.150

0.145

0.333

8.69E-02

0.393

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

Mean of X

Ability to coordinate activities

516
High Educ (2014) 68:503523

0.237

0.512

Between 2 and 4 years of

experience

More than 4 years of

experience

1.957

-0.234

Less than 2 years of

experience

0.927

Ref.

No paid work since

graduation

Mu(2)

0.175

Enrolled in additional formal

study/training programmes

Mu(1)

9.99E-02

7.00E-03

Father with higher education

Average final examination

grade secondary education

-0.149

-2.65E-02

32.61**

11.75**

3.644**

1.646*

-1.396

2.642**

0.188

1.327

-2.489**

-2.087**

-0.929

-0.124

Interrupting the study

programme for 4 or more
months

Woman

2.415**

0.189

Study-related work
experience during higher
education

Age

1.097

0.105

Spent time abroad during HE

for study/work

0.998

7.56E-02

0.54

0.31

9.13E-02

0.57

2.87

0.25

29.85

0.64

7.07E-02

0.23

0.14

0.56

2.209

1.225

0.254

0.122

7.01E-02

Ref.

0.1723498

7.00E-02

0.108415

-2.41E-02

-1.29E-02

-0.2823933

8.31E-02

0.182

-1.80E-02

19.469**

7.533**

1.752*

0.826

0.402

2.538**

1.853*

1.403

-2.258**

-0.176

-2.125**

1.041

1.849*

-0.232

t-ratio

0.54

0.31

9.10E-02

0.57

2.88

0.25

29.84

0.64

7.07E-02

0.23

0.14

0.57

Mean of X

Coefficient

Mean of X

Coefficient

t-ratio

Ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge

Ability to perform well under pressure

Participated in work
placement/internships

Table 2 continued

2.135

0.956

0.458

0.254

5.57E-03

Ref.

0.194

-3.88E-02

0.103

2.51E-03

0.337

9.86E-03

0.125

0.222

9.69E-02

Coefficient

31.792**

9.987**

3.273**

1.775*

0.033

2.903**

-1.037

1.348

0.243

4.633**

0.074

1.575

2.260**

1.268

t-ratio

0.54

0.31

9.10E-02

0.57

2.88

0.25

29.85

0.64

7.10E-02

0.23

0.14

0.57

Mean of X

Ability to coordinate activities

High Educ (2014) 68:503523

517

123

123

4.256

5.925

Mu(5)

0.0000

Asterisks indicate coefficients that are significant at the 5% level (**) and 10% level (*)

Source: Authours calculation

146.721

172.924

v2

P (v2 [ value)
0.0000

-4263.2

3,209

3,209

156.236**

134.030**

69.373**

-4975.5

7.385

5.406

3.914

Log likelihood function

125.51**

115.4**

73.00**

Number of observations

Dependent variable: How do

you rate your own level of
competence?

3.105

Mu(4)

t-ratio

Mean of X

Coefficient

Mean of X

Coefficient

t-ratio

Ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge

Ability to perform well under pressure

Mu(3)

Table 2 continued

6.532

4.707

3.384

Coefficient

0.0000

187.86

-4765.2

3,199

131.2**

124.3**

75.840**

t-ratio

Mean of X

Ability to coordinate activities

518
High Educ (2014) 68:503523

High Educ (2014) 68:503523

519

a time-consuming activitywith no monetary reward, in a system where what really

matters for academic promotion is the number of research papers you are able to publish
and the research grants you are able to get. The assumption that a good researcher is also a
good teacher has caused a great deal of stress and distress in the academia, and resulted in
an increase in the number of publications during the 1990s on the topic of the link between
research and teaching. Actually, some research papers showed a negative relation between
research productivity and teaching effectiveness (Ramsden and Moses 1992).
Third, with respect to the Ability to work productively with others, it is promoted by
using assignment-based assessment, teacher-focused teaching, and examinations as modes
of teaching and learning, being assignment-based assessment the most important one. In
fact, the factor group labeled assignment-based assessment includes group assignments
(see Table 1). Ability to work with others means that the student will work effectively with
others, including people from diverse backgrounds, and contribute to group efforts by
sharing ideas, suggestions, and workloads. However, this kind of group production process is delicate in the sense that because of output is a function not of the effort of a single
student, but of the combined effort of several students, its difficult for an instructor to
identify and reward the exact contribution made by each students/he cannot identify the
free-riders. The instructor observes total output perfectly, but individual effort only
imperfectly. Additionally, in the workplace, teamwork also implies complex information
processing activities, a competence that can be developed on campus by teacher-focused
teaching. Examinations help students to develop competencies such as positive work
habits, along with cognitive skills, which are also important in the workplace.
Fourth, tutorials enhance the Ability to perform well under pressure of graduates.
Small group teaching has become more popular as a means of encouraging student
learning, but the tutor needs a different set of skills for that than used in lecturing and not
all academic staff has had the opportunity to learn these skills. Assignment-based
assessment has also a positive impact, although significant at 10 % level.
Fifth, the Ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge is developed by using mainly
teacher-focused teaching, although tutorials have a positive impact on competence
development as well.
Lastly, the Ability to coordinate activities is promoted mainly through assignmentbased assessment, although tutorials are also important, and to a lesser extent the teacherfocused teaching.
In addition to the identification of the pedagogical methods, the findings reveal that
competence development varies according to the degree. There are statistically significant
differences across field of studies: degrees related with Education contribute more than the
rest of degrees to develop competenciesthe results for the degree subject are given
against the reference category of Education. Also all competencies evaluated are strongly
developed when graduates considered that their programmes were generally regarded as
demanding; and programmes with a broad focus contribute more to develop competencies
that are relevant to graduates professional success such as Ability to coordinate activities
and Ability to perform well under pressure.
The results from the ordered logit models allow us to investigate several hypotheses in
terms of influences on the development of competencies generated outside HE system as
well. Of more interest, though, are the prior, possibly causal influences on the graduates
skills. For example, higher average final examination grades in secondary education are
related positively with the Ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge. Similarly, family
background is commonly cited to explain many behavioral traits and, in turn, its effect on
personal development. We capture the status effect in terms of education and occupation

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520

High Educ (2014) 68:503523

including a dummy variable for those with a graduate parent (father with higher education). The estimations show a positive effect (statistically significant) of a higher socioeconomic status in the development of the Ability to use time efficiently.
Graduates responses to the question about the acquired level of competence provide
also a self-assessment of the level of competencies built up during HE. The regressions
confirm a significant and positive impact of experiences abroad on the development of
competencies. Students who spent time abroad during higher education for study or work
develop, clearly, the Ability to coordinate activities and Ability to rapidly acquire new
knowledge as well. Evidence on the economic returns to studying abroad can be found in
Oosterbeek and Webbink (2006). Among other findings, the authors show that studying
abroad is associated with an increase in the probability of finding a job in which international contacts are importantsee also Salisbury et al. (2009) for a recent research about
the factors that influence students predisposition to study abroad. Likewise, study-related
work experience during higher education allows graduates to accumulate productive
capacities: Ability to work productively with others and Ability to perform well under
pressure.
Finally, the professional path of graduates since they left HE and current situation may
be an important effect on their assessment of the competencies. Graduates who enrolled in
additional formal study/training programmes after graduation in 19992000 exhibit, ceteris
paribus, higher competencies in the Ability to perform well under pressure, Ability to
rapidly acquire new knowledge, and Ability to coordinate activities. Likewise, a higher
number of years of experience in the labor market since graduation in 19992000 exercise
a positive impact on competence developmentwith the exception of the Ability to make
your meaning clear to others. In summary, on this evidence, the effects of HE modes are
evidently important, but also circumstances outside the classrooms.

Conclusion and policy implication

Graduate employment has become a heated issue in media and academic debates among
those concerned with the relationship between higher education and the labor market
(Purcell et al. 2013). Nowadays the employability of graduates is related with the competencies they bring into the workplace. Recent research shows that the employability of
the graduates increases where the study programme is vocationally oriented, as well as
when the programme is familiar to the employer (Stren and Aamodt 2010).
Although every employer looks for specific competencies from job-seekers that match
the competencies necessary to perform a particular job, beyond these job-specific technical
skills, certain abilities are nearly universally sought by employers. Using data for Spain
from the European Reflex project, this paper finds that the most required competencies to
graduates are: (a) mobilizing their own capacities (using time efficiently, performing well
under pressure); (b) mobilizing others (working productively with others, coordinating
activities, making meaning clear to others); and (c) having good specialist knowledge
(mastery of own field, ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge).
Do HEIs provide graduates with the required competencies? Although in relation to the
requirements of the workplace various studies have indicated employer dissatisfaction with
the development of such competencies in (under)graduates (Roizen and Jepson 1985) and a
recognition by (under)graduates of their weakness in these competencies (Brennan and
McGeevor 1988), this paper shows that Spanish graduates possess those abilities to some
extent and universities play a key role in the competence development. The Reflex data on

123

High Educ (2014) 68:503523

521

certain teaching and learning, and assessment methods correlate with certain competencies.
For example, evidence shows that assignment-based assessment, in contrast with traditional modes of teaching such as lectures, is the most effective mode of teaching and
learning to developing labor market competencies among Spanish graduates.
Our results have clear implications for policy in the Bologna process. The recent reform
of higher education in Spain has important consequences for students, academics, and the
labor market. Developing transferable competencies that university graduates can take into
the workplace is becoming a major concern for Spanish universities. One of the main
challenges still facing HEIs is to transform their pedagogical practicesthe lecture continues to be the dominant teaching methodinto competence-based teaching as a response
of HEIs to labor market needs. Although the teaching of transferable skills is neither easy
nor certain, learner-centered instruction, which incorporates active teaching methods, is
more expensive to implement comparing with the traditional onesit demands more
resources, smaller groups, more instructors, etc.but it is indeed less cost-effective. In any
case, popular discussions of skill formation almost always focus on expenditures in schools
or on educational reforms but neglect important non-institutional sources of skill formation, which are equally important, if not more important, producers of the varieties of skills
that are useful in a modern economy. This paper exhibits that, along with academic
institutions, firmsworking experience gained after graduationappear as sources of
learning and competence development as well.
The importance of this paper lies in the implications that a competence-based approach
has for teaching and learning. The curriculum developers and teaching staff in higher
education sectors could use the findings to tailor the curriculum and teaching practices
accordingly in order to better-equip higher education students to obtain those abilities and
attributes which are useful for the labor market. Nevertheless, we should mention two
limitations of this research, still ongoing under the title Approaches to Teaching,
Learning and Assessment in a Competence-based Curriculum. On the one hand, the issue
of causality will be treated carefully in future research. In other words, to be sure that some
modes of teaching and learning, and assessment activities are more appropriate than others
to the best development of certain competencies, a repeated measures design should be
taken into account. On the other hand, graduates self-assessments of competence development should be accompanied by objective measures of competence gains in their educational programmes provided by universities.
Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the useful comments given to me by the anonymous
referees. I would also like to thank Professor Ken Mayhew, University of Oxford, for his considerable help
and advice on an earlier version of this work during my visit at SKOPE.

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