A CDIO COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK FOR VINH UNIVERSITY'S TEACHING FACULTY

Among factors that a university can control, teaching faculty plays the most crucial role (Hammond, Berry & Thoreson, 2010). This may explain why professional teachers at higher education institutes are generally required to possess essential competencies for the benefits of students. While many educators have agreed on the distinctive nature of higher education as compared to K12 levels, there seems to be no consensus on what competencies are the most fundamental. This paper in the first place argues for the necessity to formulate a lecturer competency framework for the teaching faculty at Vinh University, which has recently launched its newly designed CDIO curricula. The university has undergone a significant transformation since it joined the CDIO Initiative in 2005, thus being determined to reset its policy on requisite attributes for the lecturers. The paper also discusses the elements of competency, advantages of lecturer competency frameworks, and principles of formulating lecturer competency frameworks. In addition to that, reviews of teacher competency frameworks currently used by schools and universities around the world are provided. Finally, the paper describes the components included in the proposed framework together with explanations for the inclusion of those competencies.