America Invades the UK . . . with Grade Point Averages!

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.