Educating Highly Competent and Principled HR Professionals in the 21st Century

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effectiveness of US HR Graduate Programs in preparing highly competent and principled HR professionals functioning as strategic partners and helping organizations create sustainable competitive advantage through the HR function. The paper examines the major competencies necessary for HR to serve as business partners and analyses the graduate HR programmers in developing the requisite competencies. Multiple gaps in the curriculum are identified. Strategies to enhance the quality and relevance of the graduate programmes in developing high competent and principled HR professionals in the 21^st. century are discussed.