York students may soon stop receiving their degrees in the form of the traditional classification system after the University announced it is a member of a breakaway group of seven elite universities looking at introducing a completely new system last week.
The changes would mean students would no longer receive firsts, 2:1s, 2:2s or thirds, but would instead receive a grade on a more continuous scale.
The system being considered, similar to that currently used in American Liberal Arts colleges, would see the current categorisation system replaced by a grade-point average (GPA) and is intended to stop the ‘cliff-edge’ nature of the current system. York, alongside UCL, LSE and the Universities of Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Warwick are in early negotiations over how to introduce the changes.
It is understood that UCL have the most developed plans with the intention to introduce the system within the next two years.
The GPA model offers a single numerical value for each student’s academic achievement during their degree. The system used in the US gives a final mark on a scale of 0-4 to two decimal points, although it is believed that the system being considered by York may operate slightly differently.
A University spokesman said: “The seven universities have been motivated by their conviction that a system of measuring achievement at undergraduate level should be sufficiently flexible and internationally well-understood to ensure that UK graduates are best-placed to compete in an increasingly global marketplace.
“The universities wish to explore a measure that can be a motivational tool for students during university and give employers and others the information they need following graduation.” The plans are in response to criticism that the current honours classification system does not accurately reflect a student’s performance, with the broad categories failing to differentiate those students who achieve grades that fall at the upper and lower ends of that category. The change is also understood to challenge the segregation of graduates who have achieved a 2:1 and those who have missed out, however narrowly.
The idea has received a cautious welcome from current students, with 2nd year maths student Isobel Redgate telling Vision that the reworking of the system “would change a long standing university tradition, but would allow those people who just miss out on a first or a 2:1 the chance to showcase good results.”
The announcement that the University is considering this major change to the academic system comes at the same time as the introduction of the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) which would see students being given a report at the end of their degree summarising their overall university achievements which cover more than just their academic performance.
York’s Academic Support was not informed about the considerations. All academic department heads are being included in discussions.
Ben Humphrys, YUSU Academic Officer was surprised that the University had forgotten to inform him of the developments initially. However, he emphasised that “this is still very, very early stages. A very interesting announcement to be sure, but there won’t be any confirmations before 2012.
“I wouldn’t expect the switch to be enforced before 2015. Expect debate over the next few years,” he told Vision.
Future students would be properly informed before they join York courses if the grading system indeed changed.