Game-based assessment for quality assurance: examining graduate attributes in an accredited engineering programme

Purpose This paper aims to present a game-based assessment (GBA) methodology for systematically assessing graduate attributes within an accreditation-oriented framework in higher education. The study focuses on an activity that generates structured evidence to support the assessment of learning outcomes, addressing challenges of authentic evaluation in engineering programmes. Design/methodology/approach A GBA tower-construction activity was designed and implemented at three curricular stages (initial, intermediate and advanced) in a Civil Engineering programme at the University of Costa Rica. The activity combined observable performance indicators with a percentile-anchored normalisation to produce 0–100 scores for five graduate attributes. Data was collected from 28 student teams (more than 110 students) and complemented by a survey on clarity, fairness and value. Findings Results reveal differentiated progression: design and development; environment and sustainability; and teamwork improved significantly; problem analysis remained stable; and project administration and finances increased gradually. Students reported high clarity and adequacy of conditions, supporting feasibility and acceptability. Practical implications The GBA methodology provides a potentially adaptable framework for generating structured, performance-based evidence in exploratory programme-level quality assurance applications to support programme dashboards, thresholding and continuous improvement in outcomes-based accreditation processes. Originality/value While gamification is widely studied as a pedagogical strategy, empirical uses of GBA as an assessment mechanism are scarce and they rarely produce structured evidence for programme-level outcomes. This study reframes gamification as a programme-level assessment support mechanism, contributing a novel, context-sensitive approach that aligns authentic performance tasks with comparable, accreditation-relevant outcome indicators in higher education.