FACULTY COMPETENCE AND DEVELOPMENT METHODS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS Payal Sharma*, Jagwinder Singh Pandher** * Research Scholar, Department of Humanities and Management, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, India. Email: payalshrm183@gmail.com ** Assistant Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Management, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, India. Email: singhj@nitj.ac.in Abstract Education is the backbone of any economy and educators are the biggest actors of the education system. Their competence development is very important. The previous literature showed that faculty development is possible through various development techniques and there are a lot of techniques that are adopted from traditional time and some are developed recently after recognizing their need. The authors in this article have made a critical analysis of these traditional and modern faculty development techniques and their appropriateness for the development of different competencies among educators of higher education. This study has been carried out through literature review. The study concludes that ‘learning by teaching community’ is the most important technique for competence development of teachers followed by ‘learning from students’ feedback’, and ‘mentoring programmes’. Keywords: Faculty Development, Faculty Competences, Faculty Development Techniques, Higher Education, Learning by Teaching Community, Learning by Peers and Students’ Feedback Introduction Education is a process that encourages frequent progress through the development of one’s abilities, and the growth of one’s interests (Bonstingl, 1992). Improvement in the education system of the nation leads to reinforcing the skills of its natives and ultimately leads to maximising their potential. Building up skills and capacities in all domains is indispensable for techno-economic development (Capili, 2003). The education system is striving for competency-based transformation (Holmboe et al., 2011; Seezink & Poell, 2010; and Foot & Megginson, 1996). Educational reforms around the world are setting ambitious goals for students’ learning. This vision of educational reform can be achieved through changes in classroom practices, which largely depend on teachers (Fullan & Miles, 1992; Spillane, 1999). Multiple and complex social changes and challenges in education system require well-educated, fexible, and highly competent teachers to affect those changes and meet the challenges (Geldenhuys & Oosthuizen, 2015). The quality of teachers infuences the reforms of an institute, teachers’ motivation to participate, and implementation of innovative approaches to teaching and learning (Gorozidis & Papaioannou, 2014). Ongoing changes in vocations, increasing students’ diversity, economic development, business development through applied research by educational institutions, changes in educational approaches, and performing leadership roles are compelling changes in the educational system (Hoekstra & Crocker, 2015). It is not possible without support and guidance (Ball & Cohen, 1999; Putnam & Borko, 1997; Wilson & Berne, 1999). It must be institution’s broad mission to professionalize the educational activities of teachers, enhancing educational infrastructure, and increasing educational capacity for the future, so that novice as well as experienced teachers get opportunities for their ongoing professional development and support (Swanwick, 2008). However, professional development activities are sadly inadequate (Borko, 2004). Various educational experts in their reports stress on limitations of faculty development programmes. So, there is a need to take international initiatives for the development of the faculty in the educational enterprise. More emphasis should be laid on how faculty development can be accomplished (Holmboe et al., 2011). In this review paper, we are trying to fnd out a relationship between development activities and teachers’ competence from literature.