Competency-Based Education in Business and Accounting

Competency-based education programs in the United States have grown over the past decade in response to the need to address adult learners who have earned some college credits but have not earned a degree. Hundreds of colleges have either developed or are developing competency-based education (CBE) programs, which separate learning from credit hours. Students complete assignments and/or projects to achieve mastery of competencies. This paper describes the state of CBE programs, focusing on business programs, which represent about one third of programs reported through a national survey. Discussion of University of Wisconsin System’s programs follows, including a specific business program within the system as well as its accounting coursework. Program level competencies and sub-competencies for the undergraduate CBE and traditional business programs are very similar; however, the mechanisms by which students are assessed in these programs are different since CBE programs emphasize authentic assessment