A new structure of specific professional competences in the civil engineering curriculum of the Andres Bello Catholic University -UCAB

Abstract

The competence-based curriculum derives from the changes in the paradigm since the world declaration on higher education in the 21st century: Vision and Action of UNESCO in 1998, with the mission of contributing to sustainable development and the improvement of society. The Universidad Católica Andrés Bello-UCAB was one of the universities in Venezuela that adopted the competency-based curriculum as part of its institutional project in 2013. Six years after the application of this curricular model in the School of Civil Engineering of the UCAB, the structure of the Specific Professional Competences – CPE – was reviewed and the need to improve them arose, because gaps, failures and inconsistencies were identified. This new CPE structure includes two competences: CPE1, to picture Civil Works with a Comprehensive Vision and CPE2, project Civil Works with Quality. There are two units of competences for each one: CPE1-U1, to analyze the Behavior of a Civil Work and CPE1-U2, to understand the Integrality of a Civil Work; CPE2-U1, to define dimensions or designs in Civil Works and CPE2-U2, to carry out Civil Work Projects. For each of the Competence Units, only three Performance criteria were proposed, as the indicators to draw evidence of the development of the competences. This new CPE structure has been assumed in the new UCAB Civil Engineering curriculum, which comes into effect in September 2023. It is expected to result in better and higher effectiveness in the development of the competences of the Ucabista Civil Engineer.