The body of professional knowledge and skills within the competency-based model of higher education

Introduction. The study focuses on methods, grounded in the competency-based approach to education, for regulating the learning activities of higher education institutions through the utilisation of bodies of professional knowledge and skills. These are understood as codified (systematised and organised) bodies of knowledge recognised by members of the relevant professional and/or educational communities. Aim. Through an analysis of both Russian and international experience, this study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of integrating professional knowledge and skills into the documents governing the core of higher education, and to substantiate the practical significance of this approach. Methodology and research methods. The study includes an analysis of the contradictions between the knowledge-and-skills model and the competency-based model of higher education, as well as an examination of the possibilities for integrating bodies of knowledge and skills into documents regulating higher education. The analysis encompassed publications in Russian and international scientific journals indexed in the Scopus, Web of Science, and RSCI databases, alongside scientific monographs and reports from international research groups investigating the construction of bodies of knowledge and their alignment with professional competencies. Results and scientific novelty. It is demonstrated that there are neither fundamental nor technical obstacles to integrating bodies of knowledge and skills into educational standards and frameworks, which are considered both in the development and accreditation of educational programmes. The existence of a body of knowledge and skills defining the professional core of an educational programme, agreed upon by the educational community, would strengthen the cohesion of the national educational space, establish an optimal balance between the fundamental and applied components of professional training, thereby creating a barrier against the observed decline in the level of fundamental training in some higher education institutions, and provide tools for assessing the quality of professional training. Practical significance. The practical feasibility of integrating bodies of knowledge and skills into the competency-based model of higher education has been demonstrated. The results obtained can be utilised to enhance the quality management of higher education.