The creation of the national qualifications system of the Russian Federation induces many problems related to the building of correspondences between different social institutions. The focus of the article is national qualifications system - competencies, and those mechanisms that provide different stakeholders with a common understanding of competencies. For the analysis and research of the indicated problems, the system of quality assurance of engineering education was chosen, which includes aspects of partnership between academic institutions and employers of graduates. The research relevance is explained by the high dynamics of changes in the labor market associated with digitalization. For educational systems that are inherently conservative, it is necessary to optimize educational models, implement effective learning technologies, and constantly balance between classics and innovations. The model of quality assurance presented in the article, implemented at the Higher School of Engineering at UrFU, responds to the challenges of the modern economy with its high dynamics of technological changes. A key factor in the design and implementation of programs is the methodology of learning outcomes, as a concretization of the competence approach, which is shown in the model of ensuring the quality of education: flexible mechanisms for working with learning outcomes, creating a system for generating and evaluating learning outcomes under the program in close partnership with partners.