INTEGRATED CURRICULUM AND STUDENTS' GENERIC COMPETENCES.

Education, competences and learning outcomes are the key topics of curriculum policy in most countries of the European Union, striving to become the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world in terms of knowledge. One of the main components of this approach is the promotion of key competences and the new culture of learning, supported by integrative processes. In this context, many educational, but also employment theorists and analysts, alongside professional competences, emphasize the importance of generic competences, their flexibility, multi-functionality and transferability in developing cultural, social, human and intellectual capital. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to examine students' assessments of fostering the development of generic competences. The research was conducted in two European cities, at the universities of Pécs (N=74) and Osijek (N=60). Also, at a theoretical level, this paper explores the new culture of learning and graphically illustrates ten different ways/models for integrating curriculums. The results from a quantitative and qualitative analysis show that out of 30 examined generic competences, 12 (40%) of them were mostly positively assessed by the students, and they were indecisive about the remaining 18 (60%) generic competences. Systemic competences achieved the lowest result (M=3.38), which is understandable because systemic competences, along with well-developed instrumental and interpersonal competences, include the ability to plan changes that aim towards system enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]