Higher Education News
Friday 29 May 2015
UK universities urged to adopt US-style grading system
UK universities are being encouraged to adopt a new US-style grading system to provide employers with a more accurate picture of how students perform throughout their studies.
In a report, published by the Higher Education Academy, universities are urged to trial the grade point average (GPA) system, used by universities in the US, Canada and Asia, alongside the current honours degree model, over a five-year period.
GPA gives students a more precise grade by providing a cumulative score of average marks throughout a student’s degree. These are then corresponded to grades ranging between F- to A+.
The system is said to provide more detail about whether a candidate came at the low or high end of a degree classification and offer greater international comparability of degree results.
Stephen Isherwood, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, thinks a move to GPA would be a positive step. He said: “Employers will value the greater granularity in the marking structure while students will benefit from a fairer representation of their grades.”
Oxford Brooks is the only university to have adopted the GPA system so far.
Extract from the Claire Shaw article for The Guardian
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