Abstract:
In recent years, universities are constantly facing assaults by certificate and training institutes on their capability to produce high quality graduates who can meet and adapt to the needs of industry. A good curriculum - the structure of the courses, the syllabus and the assessment - is an essential requirement for ensuring the quality of any academic program. The challenge is thus, to identify the core competencies that a student is required to achieve after completion of the course, and the subsequent designing of the syllabi to acquire these competencies. In the competency based model, a proscribed competency should be the instructional goal - and the curriculum presentation and evaluation strategies need to be targeted towards acquiring this specific goal. This differs from the traditional methodology which focuses on imparting a generalized knowledge base that might prove useful in the future. The issue that needs to be addressed is thus, the design of a curriculum that is flexible, yet targeted towards the learner acquiring the necessary "knowledge base" for sustainable employment. This kind of a framework results in multiple entry and exit points into the system and can be flexible enough to accommodate inter-disciplinary students.
