Developing a Competence Assessment which References a Student Portfolio to a Professional Skills Framework

As part of the UK Institute of Coding (IoC), established to address the perceived skills gap between computing graduate capabilities and employer needs, a degree accreditation standard was developed which focused on the demonstration of real-world computing competence rather than on traditional academic knowledge. A graduate’s competence was to be assessed by using a portfolio recording their achievements in a real-world setting to map those achievements to the skills descriptors of a global skills framework for IT professionals. This paper explores the decisions made as the accreditation standard was developed, and the range of tests and checks that were required to ensure that the standard would both confirm graduates’ specific competence and meet national regulatory frameworks for degrees. Although the specific accreditation standard was for computing degrees, the design approach and subsequent validations would apply also to competence-based standards for other subjects.