by Elizabeth Rule, Intern Summer 2014
The United Kingdom currently uses the two-hundred-year-old British
undergraduate degree classification system as a grading structure for
undergraduate degrees. This system consists of degree levels divided into five
distinctions: first-class honors; second class, upper level (also known as a
2.1); second class, lower level (2.2); third class; and pass without honors (or
an “ordinary degree.”)
Though many other countries including Australia, Nigeria,
Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand also use this system, many academic
professionals in Britain are pushing for the switch to the more quantifiable
and practical American GPA
system.
The problem with the current UK grading system is that
employers generally look to hire students above the 2.1 mark and disregard
students with a 2.2 or below. Since 2012, the number of students above the 2.1
mark has tripled. The concern is that the five-class honor system used across
Britain is too broad and fails to properly showcase bright and weak students.
Currently the chair of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) in the
UK, Professor Sir
Robert Burgess of the University of Leicester is at the forefront of the transformation
from the honors system to the GPA system. The switch has been in motion since
2004, when Burgess introduced the Measuring
and Recording Student Academic Achievement Scoping Group [PDF], which recommended a new achievement system be
sought. In 2008, Burgess began implementing the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR). The
program encourages a more sophisticated approach to measuring student academic
achievement, including a GPA.
In 2013, the HEA began a pilot
program where 21 British universities, including Birmingham, Edinburgh,
Leeds and Nottingham, began using the GPA system on a trial basis. The hope was
the GPA system would help solve grade inflation problems and better evaluate
students’ efforts. All of the universities are still currently using the GPA
system, and the program is considered a success so far.
Though many university administrators are on board with the
potential switch, a number of traditional universities such as Oxford and
Cambridge hold on dearly to the sentimental value of the old system. The Independent reported
in 2013 that a representative from Oxford University said, “We have no plans to consider GPA at this time."
Despite the slight backlash, Nottingham University is
planning on becoming the first university to completely abandon the honors
system in favor of the GPA system. Dr. Paul Greatrix of the university is a
supporter of the switch as a result of the growing difficulty in separating
graduates’ competency levels, especially for employers seeking top-notch
candidates. He was quoted
by the Nottingham Post as saying,
“Any shift away from
degree-classification to GPA will be a very significant development for the
university. . . . GPA would make it easier to distinguish the top students from
the good graduates.”
Nottingham
is not far ahead, as other universities are also working on the switch to GPA permanently,
such as Birmingham, York, the London School of Economics and University College
London, among others.
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