Modern discourse of learning paradigm gives background to the emerging of a much broader definition of the higher education institution teacher‘s competence that, together with the academic and subject competence, encompasses the teacher‘s meta-learning competence as well as the competence of teaching others how to learn in developing learning environments. The concept of educational competence is used for the definition of this broad higher education institution teacher‘s competence (Jucevičienė et al., 2011).

 The activities of an teacher at a specialized university go far beyond the limits of teaching in the process of developing students' personalities and preparing them for the world of work. The learning paradigm (Longworth, 2000; Cross, 2001; Jucevičienė et al., 2011, et al.) emphasizes multifold teacher activities, including a variety of learning environments for education and training, expertise and presentation of new ideas and knowledge of science to the public. Thus, the assessment of learning paradigm requirements for a higher education institution teacher allows to define educational competence as the teacher‘s knowledge, abilities and skills of his/her activities as a learner, work experience, personal qualities, and attitudes and values corresponding the learning paradigm that determine the teacher's successful support for the learner‘s participation in the system of formal education, as well as encouraging the learner to organize and manage the process of learning in different learning environments. This requires from the teacher a multifold educational competence covering the learning needs of the modern knowledge society (Guasch, Alvarez, Espasa, 2010; Fainholc, 2014).

 Research question: How the possibilities of educational competence manifestation are assessed by the teachers at a specialized university, what domains of manifestation they identify as important, what competencies they believe they are missing, or what they fail to associate with the manifestation  possibilities of their personal educational competence?

The participants of the research are the teachers at X University (n – 120).

 The aim of the research is to determine the possibilities of manifestation of the educational competence in the learning environment of a specialized university from the perspective of the teachers.

The objectives of the research are the following:

1. To discuss the theoretical aspects of the manifestation (of educational competene taking into account the requirements of learning in the modern knowledge society.

2. To disclose the specifics of the teachers‘ educational activities in the studies at a specialized university.

3. To determine the domains and possibilities for the manifestation of educational competence relevant to the teachers.

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