This proposal will provide a background of current issues and approaches to competency based assessment in Australian vocational education and training. It will then report on the evaluation of an innovative competency based assessment course for secondary school teachers, which is being delivered by one of the largest providers of vocational education and training in Hong Kong. This course is operating within a broader context which consists of the features of the new Hong Kong era; the impact of globalization on the curricula; and with teachers requiring the kind of competencies to deal with novel situations in a knowledge based society. The Project aimed to independently evaluate the effectiveness of a competency based assessment course which was designed to train secondary school teachers in the use of competency based assessment. The evaluation was conducted on-site in Hong Kong. A multi-method approach was adopted for the Project which incorporated a questionnaire survey and personal interviews with secondary school teachers, trainers and key government personnel in Hong Kong. The proposal will critically analyse the theoretical concepts of `competence', and refer to international (United Kingdom, Australia etc), and specifically, European literature in the field (e.g. Sandberg 1994, 1998, 2001; Svensson and Kjellberg, 2001). The results illustrated that teachers were extremely positive about the Course increasing their understanding of competency based assessment, and of a holistic approach to student assessment. Curricular implications for competency based assessment will be drawn and implications for expanding the course and to other regions and countries discussed. The proposal will stimulate European dialogue in two ways, that is, first: by referring to current issues and approaches to student assessment in the European literature, and comparing these with the Australian and Hong Kong context and second: by opening up a debate about the unlimited opportunities to conduct similar courses and research projects in the emerging vocational education and training market in China.