Competency Assessment and Grading in Higher Education

Higher education aims to develop quality and competent professionals who would be economically productive and contribute to society.  Here comes the question of how fit are they? Are our passing out graduates ready to take up and perform jobs successfully?  Is the present education equipping them for that? What should be the assessment of a graduate be based on? Higher education aims to impart competency to the learners and generally the presumption is that those who undergo higher education have acquired the desired level of competence. Examination and assessment are key indicators for measuring the performance of a graduate in the widely prevailing credit-based education system.  The credit-based system in higher education is developed on the foundation that the grades which a student has secured by way of assessment and evaluation speak what the student has earned by way of education. But the question is how to measure the competency among the graduates who pass out. Various indicators are available in Competency-Based Education System (CBES), most important among them is Employability. Employability is the capacity to take up and perform the job independently with relative ease and little support. This paper attempts to outline the major factors contributing to competency, their objectives, and outcome. Our competency measurement model suggests various performance indicators which lead to measurable parameters that directly give an idea to judge how successful a person would be in a given job. An attempt has also been made to predict performance in a job situation by judging competency level performance indicators in select categories of jobs.