The potential of design to address the complex global challenges humanity is facing has led to a growing demand for design competency. Formal education has been slow to respond. Professional design trainings, however, have proliferated but tend to be limited in duration and depth, and focus on the application of a small set of generic methods and tools placed in the context of a design methodology. The choice of methodology, methods and tools often leads to disagreements, in particular when multiple disciplines are involved. The aim of (formal) education is to develop a student’s competency to deal with the variety of problems and contexts faced in practice. Methods and tools are important to learn and help gain competency, but design competency is far more than being able to apply methods and tools. The authors propose a competency-based approach to support the teaching and learning of design and support the introduction of design education as an integral part of a curriculum. The first author’s DesCA (Design Competency Assessment) framework contains an extensive set of design competencies, developed based on literature and through an action research project involving faculty of 28 design and design-related courses at Singapore University of Technology and Design. The set allowed the identification of design competencies taught in these courses, as well as links, coherence, and progression pathways within the curricula. Findings showed that a focus on competencies can indeed serve as a common language between faculty of different disciplines to support identification, understanding, development, delivery, and alignment of design education components within and between courses, disciplines, and curricula. Individual design competencies can be identified (and trained) in many different courses, facilitating a more holistic development of design competency.