Developing Core Competencies: Student Mobility Case - Science Direct

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ScienceDirect Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 99 (2013) 828 – 834

9th International Strategic Management Conference

Developing core competencies: student mobility case a a,b

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Kaunas Univesrity of Technology, Laisves al. 55, Kaunas 44209, Lithuania

Abstract It is very important to develop pres der they could be good employees. This could be done better using mobility concept when students study abroad and gain and develop their international competencies. The sample of this study is conducted on 593 students in Lithuania in 2011. 23.9 percent of respondents have been abroad at least for 3 months. The obtained data from the questionnaires are analyzed through the SPSS statistical packaged software. Analyses results revealed differences for core competencies development among students who spent more than three months abroad with those ones who had not been abroad. Keywords: Students, Competencies, Mobility, Lithuania

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under CC BY-NC-ND license. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the 9 International Strategic Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the International Strategic Management Conference.

Management Conference 1. Introduction

Having in mind world globalization trends, one of the areas of education where governments could invest is the international education and the stimulation of student mobility, as internationalization of Higher Education is at least so far by and large based on student mobility (Konevas and Duoba, 2007). Free movement of persons is one of the fundamental freedoms which are guaranteed by the European Treaty. The freedom to set up enterprises, provide services and to get employed, makes it essential for people to process appropriate education and professional qualification. Therefore, one of the most important factors in the promotion of free movement of persons is the creation of the European area of higher education (Dumciuviene et al., 2007). Knowledge and skills of future employees should be constantly developed and to understand the importance of lifelong learning in order to be in line with changes, information flow, and new technologies (Kumpi 2010). The quality of human resources determines not only the results of single businesses, but overall competitive market, its relations with other foreign countries in education have expanded and become more intensive as well. The stimulation of student mobility, for example investment in student exchange programmes, would bring significant benefits in improving competencies of human resources and strengthening competitive position of the

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-37-323-683 E-mail address: [email protected]

1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the International Strategic Management Conference. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.554

Vilmantė Kumpikaitė and Kęstutis Duoba / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 99 (2013) 828 – 834

promising students in respected and eminent academic institutions abroad for at least a semester, it can expect that student would come back enriched in educational, cultural and social sense. Therefore, it is purposeful to reveal how the stimulation of student mobility could develop their international competencies and increase human capital as professors, educational system and all country to develop them to be good specialists for the future (Kumpikaite and Alas, 2 facilitated thousands of study visits and exchanges (Dumciuviene et al., 2007). Therefore, it is also in the interests of the governments to contribute to improving competencies of human resources in their countries. development, their competence advantages were researched by Kazlauskaite and Buciuniene (2008), Kumpikaite (2008), Kumpikaite and Ciarniene (2008), Savaneviciene et al (2008), Gary et al (2012), Danneels (2002), Campbell et al (2012), and others recently in Lithuania and in the world rarely by Konevas and Duoba (2007), Kumpikaite and Alas, (2009), Kumpikaite (2009) in Lithuania. 1. Theoretical background 1.1. Definition of competency

and finally business success depend on his/her knowledge and skills i.e. competence (Savaneviciene et al., 2008). A review of the literature suggests many definitions of competency. In this study we follow conception of competency Key Competences for Lifelong Learning (2006) and Policy Paper on Mobility. Milkovich et al (2005) assert that the definition of competency is evolving such that vague ideas relating to selfconcepts, traits, and motives are being replaced by business-related descriptions of behaviors. Tett et al. (2000) defines competencies as work behaviors that are predicated on individual traits. A review of Tett et al. (2000) of the competencies used by three major managerial consulting firms suggests that competencies include: 1) traits (e.g., -

Competencies should be recognized and judged based on specific contextual features, particularly how they are developed, what they represent within an organization, and the role that they play in delivering customer value. Summarizing, we can say, a competence can be defined as the entirety of knowledge, abilities, skills and attitudes, which are necessary for an individual to work effectively in particular working environment (Savaneviciene et al., 2008). 1.2. The key competencies bility we should speak about a multidimensional approach. There is very strong link between education and human capital. Then it was concluded that a European framework should define the competences to be provided through lifelong learning as a key measure in Europe's response to globalization and the shift to knowledge-based economies Key Competences for Lifelong Learning (2006). The Reference Framework sets out eight key competences (See Fig. 1).

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Fig. 1. Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, 2006 Stu 1.3. Looking at key competencies Key Competences for Lifelong Learning (2006), we can select from the competencies gaining by student mobility. It would be 1) Communication in foreign languages, 2) Social and civic competences and 3) Cultural awareness and expression. The most attention will be paid to these competencies in this paper more. Speaking about social competencies we used Calaguas and Dizon (2011) analysis. They on the conducted review determined the following descriptions of social competence: acting wisely and appropriately in human interactions, effectiveness or success in social and interpersonal interactions and successful social functioning, requires context specific definitions that varies with the age, the demands of particular situations and requires complex system of cognition, use of appropriate social skills, ability to make adjustments and learning from past experiences and to apply such learning to the everchanging social landscape, and has intrapersonal, interpersonal, and societal dimensions. The authors of this paper analyzed and systematized social competences and used them for empirical study.


The results of the research by Bracht et al (2006) have shown that compared to non mobile students, mobile

All systemized competencies are given in Table 1 and used for an empirical study. Table Competencies Cultural awareness and expression: foreign language proficiency intercultural understanding and tolerance knowledge of other countries Social and civic competences: conflict solving leadership acting wisely and appropriately with others; successful and effective interpersonal communication ability to accept other people's opinions and attitudes ability to understand social situations and act accordingly ability to make changes and learn from experience having intrapersonal, interpersonal, and societal dimensions self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision-making self-management and relationship management knowledge of social rules and social life self- confidence ability to influence others empathy, social acceptance Academic knowledge and skills

Authors Bracht et al (2006) Policy Paper of Mobility by ESIB

Calaguas and Dizon (2011) Policy Paper of Mobility by ESIB Tett et al., (2000) De Ville et al, (1996)

Bracht et al (2006), Policy Paper of Mobility by ESIB

2. Methodology student mobility were selected from Paper of Mobility by ESIB and Bracht et al. (2006), De Ville et al. (1996), Tett et al. (2000), and Calaguas and Dizon (2011). Questionnaire with main depicted competencies 1) Cultural awareness and expression, 2) Social and civic competencies, and 3) Academic knowledge and skills were prepared to the research. All used question are given in Table 1. The scale of evaluation for statements given for students in questionnaire The obtained data from consisted from 4 points, where 1 meant the questionnaires is analyzed through the SPSS statistical packaged software. The empirical research results are analyzed comparing opinion of respondents who have spent abroad not less than 3 month and others. This allows not only ranking and evaluating different competencies developed during mobility, but also possibility to compare opinions to these competencies before going abroad and after. following hypotheses were proposed: H1: Students being abroad more than 3 months develop their Cultural awareness and expression better than students who have never been or have been abroad less than 3 months. H2: Students being abroad more than 3 months develop their Social and civic competencies better than students who have never been or have been abroad less than 3 months H3: Students being abroad more than 3 months develop their Academic knowledge and skills better than students who have never been or have been abroad less than 3 months.

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3. Results The survey of this study is conducted on 593 students in Lithuanian in 2011. Figure 2 provides information about respondents according to their gender and time spent abroad.

Fig 2. General information about respondents

Figure 3 shows the main reasons of respondents who have been abroad at least 3 months. Majority of respondents (77 students) were abroad for a work and 69 for studies according to ERASMUS exchange program.

Fig 3. Reasons of spending abroad at least 3 months

Table 3 gives differences between students groups calculated Sp spent abroad at least 3 months, ranked core competences differently than other group. We could see that almost in all cases competencies were evaluated higher by students who spent at least 3 months abroad. The highest difference is -awareness, social awareness, responsible decisionand civic competencies. Almost all co evaluated higher from the group, which spent abroad at least 3 months. No statistical significant difference was found between and expression just overestimation of language and academic knowledge development importance while students are considering going for their studies abroad.

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(3.57), and competences respondents who have been abroad at least for 3 months and understanding and competences

intercultural understanding and (3.11) of intercultural (3.46), and nd

Table 2. Correlations Competencies Cultural awareness and expression: Foreign language proficiency -0.024 Intercultural understanding and tolerance 0.159** Knowledge of other countries 0.100* Social and civic competences: Self- confidence 0.085* Having intrapersonal, interpersonal, and societal dimensions 0.144** Ability to understand social situations and act accordingly 0.159** Successful and effective interpersonal communication 0.172** Ability to make changes and learn from experience 0.112** Ability to accept other people's opinions and attitudes 0.118** Acting wisely and appropriately with others 0.158** Knowledge of social rules and social life 0.148** Self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision-making 0.038 Self-management and relationship management 0.136** Empathy, social acceptance 0.082 Ability to influence others 0.158** Leadership 0.061 Conflict solving 0.127** -0.027 Academic knowledge and skills Shows how respondents who have never been abroad more than 3 months ranked competencies different compare to over respondents. *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

4. Conclussions

highlighted: 1) academic knowledge and skills, 2) cultural awareness and expression, and 3) social and civic competences. Cultural awareness and expression were evaluated as the most important through mobility according to empirical study. Speaking about proposed hypothesis we could say that H2: Students being abroad more than 3 months develop their Social and civic competencies better than students who have never been or have been abroad less than 3 months is accepted. At the same time H1: Students being abroad more than 3 months develop their Cultural awareness and expression better than students who have never been or have been abroad less than 3 months is accepted partly. However H3: Students being abroad more than 3 months develop their Academic knowledge and skills better than students who have never been or have been abroad less than 3 months is declined. Received results have a sense as being abroad students develop their Social and civic competencies the most. Our study showed that academic skills and foreign language development is not such important as students think before leaving their home country. Moreover, the results correspond with previous results of study by Bracht et al (2006), which has shown that eign As the same time in the present study the intercultural understanding and competences , and

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