ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 Investigating student preparedness for holistic competency assessment: insights from the Hong Kong context Cecilia Chan and Jiahui Luo University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong ABSTRACT In recent years, there have been increasing efforts to formally assess holistic competencies. These efforts tend to be policy and expert driven, overlooking students’ subjectivities in being assessed. Questions remain about how prepared students are for holistic competency assessment. To address this research gap, we conducted 2150 surveys and 17 focus group interviews (N = 73) with Hong Kong university students, attempting to understand their level of preparedness through the lens of student assessment literacy. Findings suggest that while students may be rea- sonably prepared for holistic competency assessment, they also raise a range of issues that require further deliberation in assessment planning (e.g. how to report assessment results; the form of support provided to students; democratising the assessment process). Introduction Graduates today are facing a less certain future with increased geopolitical tensions, frequent updates of technology and rapidly changing work requirements. To better prepare students for the future challenges and opportunities, holistic competencies are considered central. By holistic competencies, we refer to different types of generic skills (e.g. communication, teamwork and problem-solving), positive values and attitudes (e.g. consideration and respect) for student development (Chan et al. 2017). The reason for developing students’ holistic competencies is more than securing their jobs – these competencies are essential for them to ‘survive and thrive in the supercomplex world beyond the university’ (Kensington-Miller et al. 2018, 1439). A plethora of similar terms have been used interchangeably to describe these competencies, such as graduate attributes, twenty-first century skills, soft skills and transferable skills. Since it is not the goal of this study to differentiate them, we will use holistic competency hereafter. In recent years, international and national efforts to formally assess or certify these compe- tencies can be observed (Devedzic et al. 2018), with an aim to provide employers, quality assurance units and the public with concrete evidence of graduates’ holistic development. Some scholars believe that assessing holistic competencies ‘can raise levels of awareness and result in a greater level of commitment by learners and teachers to the recognition of these skills (competencies)’ (Clayton et al. 2003, 9); others state that the explicit embedding of holistic © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group CONTACT Cecilia Chan cecilia.chan@cetl.hku.hk https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2021.1939857 KEYWORDS Holistic competency; generic skills; transferable skills; assessment literacy; student perceptions Q12 Q1