• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.15-27
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to develop an indicator of core competency of freshmen of an Institute of Science & Technology (IST). Through the document analysis and the expert survey, core competency indicators that include 5 core competencies and 15 sub-competencies (a total of 48 items) were developed. Then content validity was examined by experts in measurement and statistics and secondary education. Also, by using students' responses, reliability was tested with Cronbach's alpha and construct validity were tested through confirmatory factor analysis. Results suggest that the core competency indicator is reliable and valid in measuring core competencies of freshmen students in an Institute of Science & Technology. Discussions were provided in terms of improving student admission processes.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.182-189
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• 2024

Many South Korean universities highly value and place much investment on the development of students' characteristics as their core competency, offering corresponding educational initiatives and programs. The present study specifically evaluated the level of characteristic competency among freshmen at C University, in which characteristic development is at the central to the institution's core competency. The researchers conducted the study to utilize the findings to inform the design of liberal arts courses and extracurricular programs. The study recruited 210 freshmen at C University in Changwon, South Korea. To ensure anonymity of the respondents, an online questionnaire was administered during the data collection period (i.e., between December 5th and 7th, 2022) with a total of 201 faithful responses finally analyzed. The results showed an average characteristic competency level of 4.21 out of 5 among the freshman participants. Notably, the highest score was ranked in the 'righteous domain' (4.27±0.66), whereas the 'behavioral domain' scored the lowest (4.08±0.77). These findings provide valuable insights for the development of educational programs that aim to promote characteristic competency among university students. The implications of the findings are further discussed.