Abstract: Competencies represent a combination of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, as well as the ability to utilize them in work or study situations, and in professional and personal development. Competencies play a crucial role in the process of higher education and in preparing students for the labor market. The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of students' self-assessment of competencies and to analyze the impact of higher education study programs on the development and enhancement of their competencies within the context of modern labor market demands. An empirical study was conducted using a questionnaire method on a sample of 250 students from various higher education institutions in the Republic of Croatia. The research aims to determine how students assess their own competencies, to examine their attitudes regarding the contribution of study programs to competence development, and to analyze whether there are statistically significant differences in students' attitudes concerning their study status, employment status, and level of study, which constitutes the research objective. For statistical data processing, the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used, with a statistical significance level of α = 0.05. The research results indicate that students predominantly assess their competencies positively. Most respondents believe that their study program contributed to the acquisition and enhancement of their competencies. The obtained results confirm the importance of higher education in the development of student competencies and highlight the need for continuous adaptation of study programs to labor market demands and contemporary educational needs.

Keywords: competencies, students, higher education, labor market