Putting competence at the core: experiences of using the European Key Competences for Lifelong Learning in Postgraduate Programmes

The paper presents key findings from the PROPOUND project which promotes curricular reforms to improve the employability of postgraduate students in response to labour market needs in Europe. The PROPOUND project, supported and funded by the European Union Lifelong Learning Programme, aims to contribute to the modernisation of European Universities. It explores how postgraduate students acquire key transversal competences by piloting and validating different models for identifying and evaluating European Key Competences that are basis for graduate employability. The project works with a range of postgraduate programmes across Spain, Italy, Netherlands, UK and Estonia by developing Case Studies and implementing pilot projects for experimentation and validation of Key Competences particularly focused on activities on the Learning to Learn Competence. Further, the paper discusses research findings and the implications of these for higher education institutes, employers and policy-makers.