Business Graduate Skills: Competency-Based Model

Competencies Needed By Business Graduates

In higher education, students must be educated to develop general competencies in order to be prepared for a complex environment with unlimited possibilities. Dhillon (2009) states that business education must provide students with the communication, interpersonal, and intellectual skills that prepare them for a better understanding of the broad picture of business in today's global environment. Villa and Poblete (2007) developed a generic competencies model considering these uncertainties and classified competencies into instrumental, interpersonal and systemic categories. The instrumental competencies are related to individual generic skills useful to carry out day to day activities. The interpersonal competencies are required to manage the self and others. The systemic competencies are leadership attributes which help to understand complex relations. Villa and Poblete (2007) designed observable behaviors rubrics to assess the development of the competency at three different levels. Similarly, Bennett, Dunne, and Carre (1999) developed a model of generic skills which describe the management of the self, of information, of others, and of tasks.