Assessment of Core Competencies in University Students: A Case Study in D Health University

The purpose of this study was to examine the levels of the core competencies of every student in a selected college in an effort to lay the foundation for the development of programs geared toward improving the core competencies of college students. An integrated information system was used to gather data from November 23 to December 22, 2017, and the data from 2,770 students were analyzed. The findings of the study were as follows: 1) Their total score in core competencies was 3.90. They scored highest in professionalism with 4.10, followed by integrity with 3.88, relationship with 3.83 and creativity with 3.76. Overall, they got relatively high scores. 2) By department, their total scores in core competencies ranged between 3.74 and 4.02. Their scores in relationship ranged from a low of 3.68 to a high of 3.96; in integrity, from a low of 3.68 to a high of 4.04; in creativity, from a low of 3.59 to a high of 3.94; in professionalism, from a low of 3.97 to a high of 4.20. 3) As a result of making an analysis by academic year, the seniors got the highest score of 3.92 in overall core competencies, followed by the juniors with 3.86 and the freshmen with 3.85. 4) By gender, the female students were statistically significantly ahead in terms of tolerance and caring among the subareas, and the male students excelled in self-regulation, future orientation and change/innovation.
In conclusion, specialization and specialized education are important for high quality education that can develop core competencies, and it is required to provide a system for systematic management and promotion of competence of students.