ndia's higher education system is the third largest in the world, next to the United States and China. According to the latest report on the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), there are 903 Universities, 39,050 Colleges and 10,011 Standalone institutions in India. These numbers are overwhelming. (AISHE, 2017-18) The quantitative flare up in higher education institutions has not been coordinated by the quality of the education they provide. In fact, the gap between quantity and quality is so large and that stands as one of the major problems in the way of India being a world leader. To become such a leader, India needs to advance a world class higher education system. (Outlook, 2018) II. Statement of the Problem The higher education system must meet the needs of potential employers and prospective employees. The higher educational system must prepare itself to be the provider of first resort and give the country the skilled workforce it requires. Currently there is a disparity.

It is also quoted in various reports that, "The lack of 'Job Ready' skills These consistency reports on employability made the researcher to think in a way that "Is the shortage of 'Job Ready' skills of graduates are due to lack of competency of Teachers in the Higher Education System?". Competencies are the skills and knowledge that enable a teacher to be successful. To maximize student learning, teachers must have expertise in a wide-ranging array of competencies in an especially complex environment where hundreds of critical decisions are required each day. Hence, the researcher wanted to evaluate the competency of Teachers in Higher Education Institutions. (1973) defined Competency as the capability of applying or using knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviours and personal characteristics to successfully perform critical work tasks, specific functions or operate in a given role or position. Personal characteristics may be mental / intellectual / cognitive / social / emotional / attitudinal and physical / psychomotor attributes necessary to perform the job. Preeti Jayachandran Nair (2012) defined Competency mapping as the process of comparing jobholder's competencies against the targeted competencies. Kuzmanovic (2011) revealed that the indicators of good teaching and quality according to the students are the availability of the professor, his/her clarity of presentation, the methodological and systematic approach, the information given to the students regarding the coursework, encouraging active participation in class and as well as considering and responding to the students' questions.

Kanupriya M Bakhru (2013) carried out a study resulting of behavioural competency of teachers and were explained in terms of analytical and problem solving, emotion handling, adaptability, concern for standard and discipline.

Katarina (2012) defined that Managerial Competency is important to achieve both the mission and vision in creating added value and improve business performance and especially the development of their own people.

Ryndina ( 2011) reported that modern teachers should include a research component as a characteristic of his / her willingness to innovate.

Following are the objectives of the study: 1. To identify the core factors influencing teacher competencies. 2. To analyse the evaluation of Students and Heads of the Department (HoDs) on their teachers' competency. 3. To recapitulate the findings and offer suggestions to improve the teachers' competency.

The study analyses the competency of Teachers in Higher Education Institutions of four districts in Coimbatore Region viz. Coimbatore, Erode, The Nilgiris and Tirupur. The study used both the primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected with the help of questionnaire. The sample includes 460 Students and 196 HODs of Self-financing Arts and Science and Engineering colleges of select districts in Coimbatore region. The multistage sampling technique was adopted for the study based on the proportion of the colleges in select districts.

The primary data collected have been analysed with the help of Factor Analysis and Arithmetic Mean Score Analysis by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The reliability statistics of Cronbach's Alpha were calculated and the Likert Scale used in the questionnaires are considered to be excellent as the coefficients are above 0.90.

? The study was restricted only on the Self-financing Arts and Science and Engineering Colleges in four districts of Coimbatore Region viz. Coimbatore, Erode, The Nilgiris and Tirupur. ? The study was made only among sample of respondents and this may not give the exact opinion of the rest of the universe. ? Though the results of the study under taken is unbiased, there may exist some biased responses that may affect the results of the study.

Objective 1: Identification of the core factors influencing teacher competencies Competencies required for teachers are commonly categorized in to four groups viz. Teaching / Academic, Behavioural, Managerial and Research competencies. There are several factors under each group of competencies and they are reduced to fewer set of factors for further analysis with the help of Factor Analysis.

The KMO measure is .797, which is very close to .8 and therefore can be acceptable and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity is significant (.000) which is less than .05 which means that correlation matrix is not an identity matrix. Taken together, these tests provide a minimum standard which should be passed before a Factor Analysis (Principal Component Analysis) should be conducted. It is found that eigenvalues of first seven factors are greater than one and their cumulative percent accounts for a larger percentage (60.642%) of the variability. So, the first seven factors of Teaching competency can be used for further analysis. They are knowledge of subject matter, ability to explain in detail, providing appropriate examples, gaining students' attention, encouraging students in questioning / discussions / hands-on activity, teaching till the students get the concept clear and completion of syllabus work before deadline. .000

The KMO measure is .698 and therefore can be acceptable and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity is significant (.000). Taken together, these tests provide a minimum standard to proceed with Factor Analysis. Eigenvalues of first four factors are greater than one and their cumulative percent accounts for a larger percentage (64.965%) of the variability. So, the first four factors of Behavioural competency such as honesty, generous, discipline and compliance with order and emotional stability can be used for further analysis. .002

The KMO measure is .773 and therefore can be acceptable and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity is significant (.002). Taken together, these tests provide a minimum standard to proceed with Factor Analysis. Eigenvalues of first four factors are greater than one and their cumulative percent accounts for a larger percentage (55.883%) of the variability. So, the first four factors of Managerial competency viz. planning and organizing, analytical and problem solving, decision making and communication skill can be used for further analysis. .003

The KMO measure is .763 and therefore can be acceptable and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity is significant (.003). Taken together, these tests provide a minimum standard to proceed with Factor Analysis. Eigen values of first three factors are greater than one and their cumulative percent accounts for a larger percentage (64.605%) of the variability. So, the first three factors of Research competency such as presentation of papers and publication of books and articles, participation in professional association and carrying out quality research work can be used for further analysis.

Objective 2: Evaluation of teachers' competency by Students and HoDs Evaluation on overall level of teachers' competency by both the students and HoDs have been analysed for all the four groups viz. Teaching, Behavioural, Managerial and Research with the help of Arithmetic Mean Score Analysis.

Students' evaluation to be taken as serious as their assessment is a part of the agenda for measuring the quality of education. As both the Teaching and Research competencies of educators are at a lower level in the students' assessment, following are the suggested measures to develop on the same.

? The teacher should carry out a true subject knowledge assessment in order to be conscious of the gaps. Set aside time in department meetings to address the identified gaps. ? Subject hub to be formed among the educators of several institutions to share and converse about the subject thoughts and its updates. ? The teacher should use diverse teaching methods in one session to keep the students' attention. ? Teachers should design their hands-on activities shared with old-style learning from books to make learning more effective. ? Research should be a noteworthy activity of a teacher. Every teacher should be involved in research activities, connecting students. Seed money can be offered by the institutions to start the research activity. ? Teachers should actively involve themselves in professional associations which helps them informed about new statistics, hot topics and best practices in their own field.

The study concentrates on the evaluation of various teacher competencies by both the Students and HoDs. It is implicit that out of four groups of teacher competencies, Teaching and Research competencies of teachers are assessed by the students are at a lower degree. Therefore, it is appreciable to initiate the process of developing the core competencies needed by the teachers in higher education sector. It helps the management for effective recruitment and selection of teachers based on the right competencies which in turn helps to provide quality education.