The Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN) is a nonprofit organization focused on advancing the principles and practices of competency-based education (CBE) in higher education. C-BEN serves as a collaborative network that brings together colleges, universities, state systems of higher education, corporations, and service providers with a shared commitment to transforming education through competency-based approaches.

C-BEN provides resources, support, and consulting services to institutions seeking to develop and implement effective competency-based education programs. This includes workshops, webinars, and other training opportunities designed to enhance the skills and knowledge of educators and administrators involved in CBE initiatives.

Examples of initiatives include:

• C-BEN's Quality Framework – Provides guidance for design, implementation, and scale of CBE programs
• C-BEN’s Employer Engagement Best Practices Guide - Provides guidance for higher education institutions through the process of exploring, launching, maintaining, and evaluating partner relationships with employer organizations
• C-BEN’s Postsecondary Competency-Based Education Program Model Map Framework – Provides a framework and guidance to institutions considering designing or redesigning a competency-based education (CBE) program.
• C-BEN Report: Interoperable Learning & Employment Records – The report includes a common set of principles that can guide actions in the movement to Learning and Employment Records (LERs). The report identifies seven Principles for Interoperability of LERs:
  • Open Standards
  • Privacy & Security
  • Unlock Learning Everywhere
  • Universal Access
  • Alignment
  • Public and Private Partnerships Creating Public Good
  • Global Mobility

• C-BEN's CompetentU is a professional development platform aimed at educators, higher-education staff, and workforce leaders to learn how to design, implement, and scale competency-based education (CBE) programs. It is offered as online, on-demand learning built around C‑BEN’s core principles for competency-based education. Courses and a certificate track such as:

  • Foundational CBE Course: Powering a Skills‑First Society
  • Designing Competency‑Based Learning Solutions for Adults

CBExchange, hosted by C-BEN, is an annual conference in the United States on competency-based education attended by leaders from hundreds of institutions who gather to learn how to build and bring to scale high-quality programs.

C-BEN partnered with the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) to host the CBExchange Asia-Pacific in 2023 and 2024, to expand opportunities for competency-based learning advocates to gather at an international conference.

Resources

C-Ben Resource Library

Events & Webinars

C-BEN’s Interoperability Principles Project