Abstract:

Cognitive skills of fresh graduates, including problem solving skills, decision making processes, situational awareness influence hiring to great extent. For a highly technical position, these skills become predominant. Presently the employer assesses the problem-solving capabilities by primarily relying upon interviews, hypothetical scenarios, sample problem tests etc. A comprehensive assessment of these capabilities, that accumulate over time, cannot be judged effectively only through couple of interviews. The practice of OBE (Outcome based education) in professional institutes and universities gathers the evaluation data for the attainment of Students' learning outcome, however from employer's point of view, there is lack of quantified assessment of cognitive skills through extra-curricular activities. This paper proposes a quantifiable approach for capturing competencies from the perspectives of an employer, which also directly corelate with Graduate Attributes of the Washington Accord. The quantification process is described at length along with case illustrations involving mapping of Key Performance Indicators. The results of the suggested approach may be exhibited through student portfolio, wherein the cognitive skills and competencies are expressed in a measurable format. This will facilitate the employer to evaluate the problem-solving capabilities of the graduate for hiring.

Keywords:

Graduate attributes, problem solving ability, employers’ perspective, competency outcomes, performance analytics.