While extensive research has been conducted on social entrepreneurship education and its potential to enhance university students' social entrepreneurial intentions, questions persist in relation to whether social entrepreneurial competence plays a relevant role in this context. This paper presents the findings from a Chinese study that aims to investigate the impact of social entrepreneurship education in universities on students' social entrepreneurial competence and their intentions toward social entrepreneurship. Our findings highlight the importance of competence-based education in fostering social entrepreneurial intentions. Social entrepreneurship education increases university students' emotional competence and functional competence, which are crucial for developing social entrepreneurial intentions. This paper contributes to social entrepreneurship education literature by emphasising the need to integrate a competence-based view into social entrepreneurship education programs. Some implications and suggestions for further practice and research are also put forward based on the result analysis.