The development of transversal competencies, in interaction with professional competencies, is essential for individuals to adapt to change and live meaningful and productive lives. The aim of this study was to explore the mutual interaction of six transversal competencies—civic, digital, entrepreneurial, global, innovation, and research, as well as their respective sub-competencies—and propose possible approaches to how this dynamic of interaction can be applied to facilitate the development of transversal competencies. A sample of students (N = 1575) from 21 universities in Latvia completed a self-assessment survey evaluating multiple behavioural indicators for each transversal competence and sub-competence. The results revealed that civic competence was evaluated significantly lower than other competencies, and, for most transversal competencies, sub-competencies associated with active and systematic collaboration and networking received lower evaluations. A network analysis showed that the community involvement sub-competence of the civic competence and the initiative and critical thinking sub-competencies of the innovation competence had the strongest links to the other measured sub-competencies on average. The results suggest that the development of initiative and cooperation-and-collaboration-related and network-building skills are likely to have a systematic positive effect on the development of a wider set of transversal competencies and the professional autonomy of students in the long term.

Transversal competences have been receiving an increasing attention in educational research and practice over the last decades. As a part of a wider project for assessment of students’ competences in higher education, a group of experts developed a model of transversal competences for students, consisting of civic, digital, entrepreneurial, global, innovation, and research competences (each with corresponding sub-competences and facets), based on the analysis of theory and previous research. In this paper, we present an assessment tool that was developed and tested for measurement of the competences in this model. The final version of the assessment tool is a self-report survey with 292 behavioural indicators that are evaluated on a 7-point Likert-type scale estimating how characteristic each indicator is of the respondent’s typical behaviour. The initial pool of behavioural indicators was created by the same group of experts based on the analysis of previous research and best practice examples in transversal competence assessment. From this pool, an initial version of the survey with 440 indicators was created and administered to 686 respondents from 8 study domains representing all study levels. Factor analysis of responses revealed a six-factor structure corresponding to the initial theoretical competence model. After further psychometric analysis, the final version of the assessment tool was formulated. Each of the six competences is further divided into 3–5 sub-competences, with each sub-competence consisting of 2–5 facets. Each facet is measured with multiple behavioural indicators describing basic, intermediate and advanced level of the respective competence. The results showed good construct validity of the tool, with the expected competence differences appearing between different study levels, and the expected relations emerging between the competence indicators and average grades. Practical applications and possibilities for further development of the assessment tool are discussed.

The development of transversal competences, in interaction with professional competences, is essential for individuals to adapt to change and live meaningful and productive lives. The aim of this study was to explore the mutual interaction of six transversal competences—civic, digital, entrepreneurial, global, innovation, and research, as well as their respective sub-competences—and propose possible approaches to how this dynamic of interaction can be applied to facilitate the development of transversal competences. A sample of students (N = 1575) from 21 universities in Latvia completed a self-assessment survey evaluating multiple behavioural indicators for each transversal competence and sub-competence. The results revealed that civic competence was evaluated significantly lower than other competences, and, for most transversal competences, sub-competences associated with active and systematic collaboration and networking received lower evaluations. A network analysis showed that the community involvement sub-competence of the civic competence and the initiative and critical thinking sub-competences of the innovation competence had the strongest links to the other measured sub-competences on average. The results suggest that the development of initiative and cooperation-and-collaboration-related and network-building skills are likely to have a systematic positive effect on the development of a wider set of transversal competences and the professional autonomy of students in the long term.