The Competence-Based Curriculum at Laurea
Editoija
Kallioinen, Outi
Laurea-ammattikorkeakoulu
2007
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2016070113473
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2016070113473
Tiivistelmä
In the higher education arena of the Helsinki metropolitan area, Laurea plays a significant societal role as a research-oriented developer that produces added value and competence for its operating environment and influences its surroundings. The region contains a significant cluster of higher education institutions, research institutions, innovative businesses and participants in the national innovation system, making up both formal and informal innovation networks. If higher education is to be based on the demands of the employment market and its development, universities of applied sciences and employers must work closely together.
Laurea defines itself as a university of applied sciences specialising in service innovations, whose specific task is to foster the international competitiveness and regional development of the Helsinki metropolitan area. New kinds of rapidly changing operating environments and their impact on professional competence in the future pose challenges for competence development, which Laurea’s competence-based core curriculum strives to anticipate. At a university of applied sciences, it is essential that the creation of new knowledge and understanding also become explicit in the form of skilful performance. Some of the area’s central challenges are competence generation, competence dissemination and the development of cooperative networks.
Laurea’s strategic choice is to integrate its three main tasks – education, research and development, and regional development. This means making a solid connection between the three tasks such that all students, lecturers and other staff can participate in all three at the same time. Laurea has created the Learning by Developing (LbD) model as a tool for reaching its strategic intent and implementing its strategies in practice. In the LbD model, the innovation system permeates the students’ everyday lives. As an innovative model, LbD also implied a reform of the competence-based curriculum. By increasing the flexibility of curriculum structures, Laurea has made workplace-oriented research and development work based on its strategic choices an essential part of the students’ studies. This improves Laurea’s ability to respond to topical regional challenges.
This publication describes the main elements of Laurea’s competence-based core curriculum. It provides a vision into the extensive and challenging process that led to a new competence-based curriculum of which we can be proud. The publication’s authors are experts from Laurea.
Laurea defines itself as a university of applied sciences specialising in service innovations, whose specific task is to foster the international competitiveness and regional development of the Helsinki metropolitan area. New kinds of rapidly changing operating environments and their impact on professional competence in the future pose challenges for competence development, which Laurea’s competence-based core curriculum strives to anticipate. At a university of applied sciences, it is essential that the creation of new knowledge and understanding also become explicit in the form of skilful performance. Some of the area’s central challenges are competence generation, competence dissemination and the development of cooperative networks.
Laurea’s strategic choice is to integrate its three main tasks – education, research and development, and regional development. This means making a solid connection between the three tasks such that all students, lecturers and other staff can participate in all three at the same time. Laurea has created the Learning by Developing (LbD) model as a tool for reaching its strategic intent and implementing its strategies in practice. In the LbD model, the innovation system permeates the students’ everyday lives. As an innovative model, LbD also implied a reform of the competence-based curriculum. By increasing the flexibility of curriculum structures, Laurea has made workplace-oriented research and development work based on its strategic choices an essential part of the students’ studies. This improves Laurea’s ability to respond to topical regional challenges.
This publication describes the main elements of Laurea’s competence-based core curriculum. It provides a vision into the extensive and challenging process that led to a new competence-based curriculum of which we can be proud. The publication’s authors are experts from Laurea.