Model of Acquiring Transversal Competences
Among Students on the Example of the Analysis
of Communication Competences
Marek Goli´ nski , Malgorzata Spychala
(B )
, and Marek Mi˛ adowicz
Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland
malgorzata.spychala@put.poznan.pl
Abstract. The article presents a model of a method of accelerating the acqui-
sition of transversal competences by students, based on the example of commu-
nication competences. The analysis uses the MARS method to create the best
model describing the impact of various variables on accelerating the acquisition
of communication competences. The following variables were taken into account:
the rank of the training method in the developed matrix, the number of students
and the weighted average acceleration rate of acquiring the remaining transversal
competences, i.e. teamwork, entrepreneurship and creativity of a given student.
The results confirm that our new method accelerates the acquisition of transversal
competences by students. This method can be used by various higher education
institutions in different countries. The developed results can be used in the cur-
riculum of already planned vocational courses and to develop the skills required
by employers in various positions and in different professions.
Keywords: Transversal competences · Communication skills · Modelling data
mining MARS · Competence management optimization
1 Competences in Modern Economy
Dynamically developing economy imposes constant changes in the functioning of enter-
prises. Maintaining a competitive position on the market, which is dominated by automa-
tion, digitalization, Big Data and Industry 4.0, forces business owners to implement
changes in personnel management. Narrow specialization and technical competences,
the scope of which is very diverse, currently play a less significant role. Much more
required and valued are skills related to the speed of adaptation to the requirements
of the enterprise and market environment. The growth of both headcount and wages
in the last few decades has been particularly intensive in case of jobs requiring high
mathematical and social skills (Deming 2017; Borghans et al. 2014). Teamwork ability,
which is indispensable nowadays, requires the involvement of social skills. This trans-
lates into reduced coordination costs, enabling employees to specialize and cooperate
more effectively (Karabarbounis and Neiman 2014; Sadlowska-Wrzesi´ nska et al. 2017).
Among competences of future employees on the researched markets, certain compe-
tency groups dominate, including language and communication competences (Pater et al.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
J. Machado et al. (Eds.): icieng 2021, LNME, pp. 351–365, 2022.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79168-1_32