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.
The current degree classification model, whereby students are awarded a first, 2:1, 2:2, or a third degree, has been labelled by critics as “not fit for purpose”. It has also been criticised by employers for being too crude, as it makes it hard to differentiate between students, say, who attained 60% and others who achieved 69.9%.
Although universities would be free to weight marks how they wished and also decide on whether to include marks for first-year students, the report stressed the importance of establishing a universal approach to GPA.
Sir Bob Burgess, former vice-chancellor of the University of Leicester who ran a GPA pilot study involving 21 UK institutions in 2013-14, said that GPA will help meet the need for a more precise indicator of degree grades.
He said: “A process of ‘dual running’ will allow institutions to adopt GPA within timescales that suit their institutional context whilst ensuring that a national system is retained.”
The 2013-14 pilot study found that GPA gives students a more precise and internationally recognisable measure of their academic achievement. It showed that it could boost student motivation and engagement throughout their studies, and help employers by offering more detailed information at an earlier stage.
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.
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