Term

Definition

Source

SKILLS CompS

“A skill is the ability to translate knowledge into an action that results in an outcome at the desired level of performance.”

“Refers to one’s ability to do things [and] is also located in the job or activity, ... skill is socially constructed.“

Bryson, J. Effective Library and Information Centre Management. (Routledge, 2017). doi: 0.4324/9781315256894

QUALIFICATION CompQ

“Formal skills and reproducible abilities people need to possess to perform professional activities. They refer to specific tasks and contexts, so a successful qualification serves as preparation for specific tasks and contexts and lays the necessary groundwork for performing the tasks. Qualifications provide verifiable documentation of a learning unit whose content, scope, duration, format, and setting are institutionally determined. Qualifications are therefore communicable.” 

Example: academic degrees and certificates 

UniWiND GUAT. Competencies of Early Stage Researchers. Development of a Competency Model.

(UniWiND Publications, 2017).

COMPETENCE Comp

“Are predispositions composed of knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes (toward values) / qualities that enable people to master various situational challenges. The emphasis here is on the capacity to transfer these predispositions to a concrete situation. As such, competencies are not verifiable in the way that qualifications are but can only be made plausible.”

UniWiND GUAT. Competencies of Early Stage Researchers. Development of a Competency Model.

(UniWiND Publications, 2017).

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS CompTS

“Transferable skills are skills learned in one context that are useful for another. They can serve as a bridge from study to work and from one career to another, as they enable subject and research - related skills to be applied and developed effectively in different work environments.” 

“Generic professional competencies that are equally applicable to all professional settings.”

OECD. Transferable Skills Training for Researchers: Supporting Career Development and Research. (OECD Publishing, 2012).

Bernstein, B. L. et al. in Globalization and its impacts on the quality of PhD education: Forces and forms in doctoral education worldwide. Pp. 5–30 (Sense Publishers, 2014).

GENERIC SKILLS CompGS

“Refer particularly to higher order (often cognitively heavily laden) skills of this kind, which are believed to underpin a wide range of competence exercised in a variety of social settings and/or across a range of occupations”

Bridges, D. Transferable skills: A philosophical perspective. Stud. High. Educ.18, Pp.43–51 (1993).