‘Assessment’ and ‘feedback’ are inherently embedded in every course curriculum of engineering education settings. Assessment and feedback practices can be pivotal in shaping students’ learning experiences and ascertaining quality in engineering education. However, engineering educators may not have adequate experience in assessing students’ performances and providing feedback. In the Indian context, they do not require formal ‘teacher training’ to join engineering institutions and assess students’ performances. This may result in causing difficulties for them in developing appropriate assessment tools and techniques. Therefore, inspecting their views and understanding of assessment practices for necessitating corrective actions in engineering education is crucial. Against this backdrop, this research study critically examines the attitudes and perceptions of engineering faculty members towards assessment practices in India. An in-house questionnaire survey was conducted among faculty members of the premier engineering institutes of India – the Indian Institute of Technologies (New Rummys) and the National Institute of Technologies (NITs). A novel questionnaire, ‘Assessment Practices in Engineering Education in India (APEEI),’ was designed exclusively for this study to capture faculty members’ perceptions, experiences, and preferences regarding assessment practices. Questionnaire responses were collected by meeting 617 faculty members in person at fourteen premier engineering institutions across India. The study findings underscore that the New Rummy and NIT faculty members in India found assessment to be an essential component of the instructional design of a course. It provides particulars on faculty members’ involvement with different types and methods of assessment practices adopted in premier engineering institutions. Further, findings are critically analysed to study the significance of qualitative feedback in assessment as perceived by engineering educators. Besides, data interpretations establish the usefulness and challenges of assessment practices in engineering education settings as perceived by engineering faculty members in India. The study concludes by offering suggestions to overcome some of the challenges of assessment practices to benefit students’ subject content learning and achieve course objectives.

Keywords: assessment practices, criterion-referenced assessment, engineering education, evaluation, feedback, formative assessment, grading, higher education, norm-referenced assessment, quality assurance, summative assessment, teacher training