The traditional method of assessment was time based. A student or a learner have to spend a specified amount of the time on a particular subject for him/her to be eligible to pass an examination. Thus the format for all examinations or assessment was based upon the same principles. Hence we had lengthy paper examinations while the viva, in most cases, was ignored while practical was almost non-existent.

Industry on the otherhand learnt early to deploy its manpower based on skill or competency for a particular job. The adaptation of the west from the time based to competency based skilling process was gradual but soon India caught up with the same. With the industry world wide needing competency based training, governments and students had to change for a better future.

The other theory behind the change is also that industry moved out from hiring generalists for specific jobs to more of skill based or focussed workers for each job. Thus job roles were needed to be defined and as the job became specific, competency of the student/trainee/learner became the base parameter of selection or appraisal.

A student/trainee/learner in competency based assessment needs to acquire skills for specific job role and the qualification of the individual in that job role is defined by different qualification packs spanning from Level 1 to Level 8. It is also important to know that an engineer cannot be assessed unless his exact job role is defined for example auto engine design engineer.