ECTS Users’ Guide 2005	Learning outcomes are sets of competences, expressing what the student will know, understand or be able to do after completion of a process of learning, long or short. […] Competences represent a dynamic combination of attributes, abilities and attitudes. […] Competences are formed in various course units and assessed at different stages. They may be divided in subject-area related competences (specific to a field of study) and generic competences (common to any degree course).
ECTS Guide 2009	In Europe a variety of terms relating to “learning outcomes” and “competences” are used with different shades of meaning and in somewhat different frames of reference. In all cases however they are related to what the learner will know, understand and be able to do at the end of a learning experience. [The Guide cites the EQF definition of competence quoted earlier in this article, but goes on to provide the following further definition in its Glossary…] Competence: A dynamic combination of cognitive and metacognitive skills, knowledge and understanding, interpersonal, intellectual and practical skills, ethical values and attitudes. Fostering competences is the object of all educational programmes. Competences are developed in all course units and assessed at different stages of a programme. Some competences are subject-area related (specific to a field of study), others are generic (common to any degree course). It is normally the case that competence development proceeds in an integrated and cyclical manner throughout a programme.
ECTS Guide 2015	[The 2015 Guide retains the 2009 Glossary entry, itself based on the EQF definition of competence, but—in an attempt to disentangle competence from learning outcome—states that]… Learning outcomes express the level of competence attained by the student and verified by assessment.