CO-PO attainment calculation measures how well students have achieved each Course Outcome (CO) and, through CO-PO mapping, each Programme Outcome (PO) defined by the National Board of Accreditation. NBA's standard formula combines direct attainment (from internal assessments and end-semester examinations) at 80 percent weight with indirect attainment (from course-end surveys) at 20 percent weight. Both the Excel template and the web calculator below implement that formula out of the box.
📥 Download the free CO-PO Attainment Excel Template
Pre-built Excel workbook with the NBA formulas embedded. Works offline, no login, yours to keep and edit.
- Up to 6 Course Outcomes per course
- All 11 Programme Outcomes (GAPC v4.0 aligned)
- Direct + indirect attainment with 80/20 weighting
- CO-PO mapping matrix with automatic PO rollup
- Bloom's Taxonomy CO verb reference sheet
Tell us where to send it — the download link arrives by email. No credit card, no setup.
Or run one CO right here
Enter your numbers for a single Course Outcome. The calculator applies NBA's standard 80/20 direct/indirect formula and returns the CO attainment score on a 0-3 scale.
Enter your numbers
Doing more than one CO? The Excel template handles all six at once and rolls them up to PO level automatically.
The NBA CO-PO attainment formula
Every institution uses the same base formula. Differences are in threshold setting, survey design, and CO-PO mapping quality.
If ≥80% students score above threshold → Level 3
If 70-79% students score above threshold → Level 2
If 60-69% students score above threshold → Level 1
If <60% students score above threshold → Level 0
Step 2 — Indirect attainment per CO:
Indirect score = (Average Likert response / 5) × 3
Step 3 — Final CO attainment:
CO_Attainment = (Direct × 0.8) + (Indirect × 0.2)
Step 4 — PO attainment (aggregated across COs):
PO_Attainment = Σ (CO_Attainment × CO-PO_Mapping_Strength) / Σ(Mapping_Strength)
The formula looks simple. What takes time is step 1 — tagging every exam question to a CO, then applying the threshold to real student data. Automation matters here.
What the free tools include
Excel template and web calculator, both free for individual faculty use.
📊Excel template
- Multi-CO per course (up to 6)
- CO-PO mapping matrix builder
- Automatic PO attainment rollup
- Bloom's Taxonomy CO verb library
- Works offline, yours to edit
🧮Web calculator
- Single-CO attainment calculator
- Built-in NBA 80/20 weightage
- Adjustable threshold and weights
- Interpretation of final score
✅GAPC v4.0 aligned
- 11 POs per Washington Accord 2021
- PO5 as Engineering Tool Usage
- PO7 Ethics as a standalone outcome
- Compatible with SAR Annexure 3.1
🚀Upgrade path
- CO-PO Pro for individual faculty
- Enterprise platform for institutions
- Multi-user access and audit trail
- NBA SAR-ready report generation
Prefer to work online instead?
If your whole department needs to map courses together, a free online account saves matrices and attainment across semesters, lets you invite faculty so their courses roll up under one institution, and exports to CSV and PDF. Optional — the Excel template above works perfectly well on its own.
Create a free accountOutgrowing the free calculator?
Two ways to upgrade depending on whether you’re buying for yourself or for the institution. Same engine in both — the difference is scope and access.
CO-PO Pro
₹2,499 / year
1 course. Or ₹4,999/year for up to 6 courses (₹833/course).
- Same engine as Edhitch’s institutional platform
- Works for NBA SAR + NAAC Binary SSR
- Direct + indirect + weighted attainment
- Articulation matrix with framework validation
- SAR & SSR-ready PDF & Excel exports
- GST invoice (personal or institution)
- Logins within 24 hours of payment
Buy with your card. No demo call needed.
Enterprise Platform
Custom pricing
For HODs, IQAC, and accreditation committees running 50+ courses.
- Everything in CO-PO Pro
- Multi-user with role-based access
- AI-suggested mapping at scale
- Audit trail across all departments
- Integrated course-end surveys
- Onboarding + training included
Demo + pricing on a 30-min call.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free CO-PO attainment Excel template to download?
Yes. The Edhitch CO-PO attainment Excel template is free. It has the NBA 80/20 direct-indirect formula built in, supports up to 6 Course Outcomes per course, includes the CO-PO mapping matrix, and rolls attainment up to all 11 Programme Outcomes under GAPC v4.0. Tell us where to send it and the download link arrives by email. It works offline once downloaded, so no login or internet connection is needed to use it.
Is the CO-PO attainment calculator really free?
Yes. Both the Excel template and the web calculator on this page are free for individual faculty use. A free online account is also available if you want to save your work across semesters and invite your department. The full enterprise platform — with multi-user access, audit trails, integrated surveys, and NBA SAR-ready report generation — is a paid product for institutions.
What is the formula for CO-PO attainment calculation?
The standard NBA formula combines direct attainment at 80 percent weight with indirect attainment at 20 percent weight. Each component is computed on a 0-3 scale where 3 indicates the highest level of attainment. The final CO attainment score is mapped to Programme Outcomes using the CO-PO correlation matrix. Many institutions adjust the 80/20 split to 70/30 or other ratios — NBA accepts this if documented.
What is the difference between direct and indirect attainment?
Direct attainment is calculated from actual student performance in internal assessments, end-semester exams, assignments, and projects. Indirect attainment comes from student perception surveys, course-end feedback, and graduate-exit surveys. Direct measures what students did; indirect measures what students felt they learned. Both are required under NBA.
Does the free calculator support the new NBA GAPC v4.0 guidelines?
Yes. Both the Excel template and the web calculator are aligned to NBA's GAPC v4.0 framework, mandatory for Tier-I institutions from 1 January 2025. GAPC v4.0 defines 11 Programme Outcomes, reduced from 12 under GAPC v3. The reduction came from a single merge: old PO6 (The Engineer and Society) and old PO7 (Environment and Sustainability) were combined into the new PO6, The Engineer and the World. Ethics remains a standalone Programme Outcome as PO7, and PO5 was renamed from “Modern Tool Usage” to “Engineering Tool Usage”. Old PO8 through PO12 shifted down to new PO7 through PO11. See our full guide to the 11 NBA Programme Outcomes.
Can I use this calculator for pharmacy and management programmes?
Yes. The free CO-PO calculator supports engineering (11 POs per GAPC v4.0), pharmacy (PO framework per NBA Pharmacy manual), and management programmes (where NBA uses the Three Gates framework with 400 marks distributed across Faculty, Industry, and Alumni dimensions). Select the appropriate programme type when requesting the template.
How long does manual CO-PO calculation take?
For a single course with 6 COs, manual calculation takes 4-6 hours if you already have the assessment data in structured form. For a full department with 20-30 courses, manual rollup takes 60-80 faculty hours per semester. This is why most NBA-bound institutions eventually move to automated platforms — the time savings pay for the software within one accreditation cycle.
For official framework documents, visit the National Board of Accreditation, the Washington Accord (international engineering accreditation), or the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
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