Competency lab
PerFORMARE EmotivaMENTE (that encompasses “Competency lab” and the course “Emotional competencies and individual development”) has been included in the short list of the best didactic projects in the session “Nurturing Employability” at the international competition “Reimagine Education” organized by Wharton – University of Pennsylvania, SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management, QS Stars.
The work environment is the place in which the importance of an intelligence that is not just logic and abstract, but a harmonious combination of different capacities is more clearly manifested. These capacities include the ability to establish constructive relationships, to trust visceral sensations – when needed – , to grasp emotional links between people enhancing the positive ones and diverting the destructive ones.”
Daniel Goleman, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Bantam Books, 1998.
What Competency Lab is
Competency Lab is a cycle of four interactive class lessons that aims to increase participants’ awareness of the behavioral competencies needed to achieve their professional goals and improve their competitiveness on the labor market.
Behavioural competencies are individual characteristics that lead to or cause effective or superior performance. Behavioral competencies are not related to a specific job, but they can be activated in any professional position which requires them. They can be goal and action management abilities, relational abilities or cognitive abilities. Some examples of behavioral competencies are: achievement orientation, initiative, adaptability, empathy, leadership, conflict management, influence, teamwork, self-awareness, self-control, positive outlook, pattern recognition, systems thinking, oral communication, etc.
Competency Lab is addressed to all students enrolled in a Master’s Degree Programme of Ca’ Foscari University.
Each Competency Lab is structured in 4 classroom meetings to 3 hours each (corresponding to 15 academic hours) and activities to be carried out online between one meeting and another. The entire Lab is organized over a period of 5 weeks.
Enrollment and attendance are mandatory. Participating in class activities and completing proposed exercises entail the provision of 6 ECTS credits, which will be inserted in the student’s study plan and in the final list of exams taken by each student.
The Competency Lab has been developed by the Ca’ Foscari Competency Centre, the Centre whose aim is to improve people’s employability and performance through the development of their behavioral competencies, in collaboration with the Department of Management.
Contents and methods
The Competency Lab allows students to undertake a process aimed at:
- Increasing their awareness of the aspirations and objectives of personal and professional growth;
- Measuring the possession of their social and emotional competencies necessary for the achievement of their objectives;
- Understanding their strengths and areas of improvement, functional to the definition of an individual learning plan;
- Matching the expectations of the labour market about the behavioral competencies required, and understanding how to enter the labour market by leveraging on their personal vision and their soft skills.
In a Competency Lab each student is guided through four stages.
- The first step is the identification of his/her future goals. This phase wants to orient the student toward a mature and clear vision of his/her professional goals (ideal self).
- The second phase lets the student understand which is his/her level of possession of a set of behavioural competencies (real self).
- The third phase helps the student to be aware of his/her strengths and weaknesses, and to understand which are the competencies he/she needs to improve – adopting new behaviours - to achieve his/her ideal self.
- The fourth phase, through conversations with companies, allows the participants to understand, on the one hand, if their professional objectives are aligned with the behavioral competencies they possess, and on the other hand the labour market requests.
The activities of the Laboratory will be offered through classroom meetings and online activities.
The online educational activities will be supported by a digital learning platform (Competency platform) developed by the Competency Centre for Ca' Foscari students. Through the platform, each student can have access to a set of additional activities necessary for the completion of the course: for example, reading a short article, watching a movie, filling in questionnaires, completing exercises.
How to participate
In the academic year 2024/2025 four editions of Competency Labs will be provided in September 2024 (in Italian), November 2024 (in Italian), February 2025 (in English) and March 2025 (in Italian).
Competency Lab is not compatible with participation in course "Emotional Competencies and Personal Development”.
Starting from December 2024, you can enroll in Competency Lab in English [ITA].
- Participation is limited to students enrolled in Master’s programmes since the a.y. 2016/17 and to students enrolled in economic Bachelor’s programmes in previous years.
- The Competency lab must be included in the student’s study plan only after receiving a registration confirmation and having participated to the first meeting.
- In view of the high number of applications, if missing the first meeting, registration to the following meetings will be subject to availability. If missing meetings following the first one, attendance to further meetings will not be possible.
- It is possible to cancel one’s registration until three days before the beginning of the Competency Lab through the link used for registration.
Earn Open Badge with CFCC
An Open Badge is a digital certification that validate and showcase the knowledge, skills and competencies acquired. Open Badges are recognised worldwide, can be included in electronic curricula and shared on social networks.
Attending the Competency Lab you earn the Open Badge “Soft Skills: Self-Awareness”.
Once an Open Badge has been awarded, you must retrieve it. For more information on how to obtain, use, and make the most of your digital certificates, visit the Open Badges and digital certificates page.
Last update: 06/11/2024