Competency development in higher education (HE) students is a global concern. Employers need graduates who are ready to perform jobs based on futuristic technologies, processes and models. Higher education institutions bear a logical responsibility to develop work-based competencies in students that enable them to think, act and work with a long-term perspective. This paper aims to develop a systematic review using PRISMA protocol on competence development of higher education graduates and innovations in curriculum design with an international perspective. A total of 56 papers were studied from 2014-2024 from two databases namely, Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. To broaden the scope, ResearchGate was also utilised. Findings show that most publications are from United States, India, United Kingdom, Germany and Africa. Key trends affecting competency development and curriculum design include alignment with sustainability goals, student-centred learning, use of a transnational approach and technology in pedagogy and faculty preparedness on learning and assessment tools and techniques.
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