General Competencies

Arcada’s competencies are here described on a general level. These general competencies are initiated during the student’s general education studies, continued during and integrated with professional studies and deepened further in development studies and research studies.

Learning and Career-oriented Competencies

Learning and career-oriented competencies enable you to study independently and actively. You are able to identify and realize the importance of your areas of strength as well as those areas where you need to develop. You understand that continuous learning is an important part of your future career development. You understand the concept of career in a broader sense, not just from a hierarchical perspective.

During the course of your studies you will develop your learning strategies. You will be able to use them flexibly in various learning processes, according to their content and their context. You will also develop your problem-solving abilities and learn together with others.

You are able to utilise the various dimensions of information. You are able to analyse knowledge and understand the difference between data, information and knowledge. You will also be able to share your knowledge within your study and work environment. You are able to reflect on and to critically evaluate your competencies (knowledge, skills, approach). In the future you will be able to manage your career, both short-term and long-term, and you are able to describe and present your competencies to future employers.

Ethical and Sustainable Competencies

Ethical and sustainable competencies enable you to take responsibility for your own actions and to act ethically in society and at work. You are able to make ethical and sustainability-oriented consequence assessments in the scope of developing services and processes within your own field.

You have developed your ability to deal with stress and time management in order to balance studies, recreation and your profession. You can cope with continuously making choices and decision-making. You are conscious of the possibilities offered and of being shaped by your daily activities and actions, which in turn influence your future prospects and choices in a rapidly changing world. You understand the importance of taking responsibility for and reflecting on your own health and well-being.

You respect people equally and seek to act in a just, equal and inclusive manner.
You are able to apply ethical principles in private life, in your studies, as an employee in a professional context, and as a member of society both locally and globally.

Communicative and Social Competency

Communicative and social competency refers to your ability to communicate consciously on different levels and in different contexts. You are conscious of your own cultural background as well as those of others and you are able to promote multi-cultural collaboration.

You are able to express your views and to argue constructively in different professional, social and cultural contexts. You are able to communicate in both official domestic languages and at least one additional foreign language.

You are able to act consciously in different social, international and intercultural environments, and to reflect analytically and critically on your role in society. You work towards openness in groups, organisations and communities.

Technological Competencies

You are able to approach technology and digital solutions with curiosity, yet analytically and critically, to reach your goals and accomplish tasks in your studies and in your professional capacity.

You are comfortable with learning new technologies for the future.
You are able to use technology in a confident and creative way and understand the security risks posed by the technologies you use.

You have the ability to consider accessibility and ethics as well as socio-technological and ecological consequences of using different kinds of technology and processes.

Local and Global Societal Competencies

Local and global societal competencies imply the knowledge of local and global agents and their societal and economical connections and affects.

You are able to reflect analytically and critically on the surrounding world in a social, cultural and political context. You are familiar with the Nordic and democratic societal models. You have an understanding of the basics concerning how the law regulates society and organisations. You understand how working life is organised, and how different professional communities operate.

You understand and respect equality and cultural diversity. You are capable of facing conflicts in a constructive and tolerant manner. You take responsibility for and contribute to organising and developing both your own actions as well as local and global society in a sustainable manner.

Innovation and Development Competency

Your innovation and development competencies allow you to create, develop and assess products, services and operations generally and in a professional context.
You are customer-oriented in furthering innovation and development supported by multidisciplinary research. You have the ability to both weigh and grasp ethical and economic consequences.

You understand the principles and methods within research, development and innovation.
You can execute projects and utilise the potential in multidisciplinary teams. You have the capacity for both entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship.

You apply and commit to responsible research practices.