Evaluation and validation of problem solving and thinking skills based on student academic performance

Engineering Companies today, along with technical knowledge of the subject, expect various skills to be present in a candidate when they go for external hiring. Highly skilled workers are replacing well educated people in the industries. This has forced Universities and colleges to move from a traditional way of imparting technical education to enhancing skills like problem solving and thinking skills. But such skills may be inherent among some students and may be lacking among others. Hence, there is a need of a model which can evaluate problem solving and thinking skills, so that students lacking the skill can be trained. This paper suggests a weighted score clustering model, which can evaluate problem solving skills in a student. The model can be used by universities to identify low skilled students, so that special skills training can be imparted to them. The paper also validates the model with the help of the student's Job placement record.