Grade bubble forming at universities

By Han Sang-hee

Many would think good grades are the easiest and surest criterion to distinguish a good student from bad one, but what happens when everybody gets good grades?

According to a report by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korean Council for University Education Thursday, 90.3 percent of university graduates in 2010 received a grade point average (GPA) of B or higher.

At the same time, 74 percent of undergraduate students also received a B or higher. The report was based on a survey of 192 universities around the county.

The report showed that some 37.8 percent of undergraduates received an A for every class, while 36.2 received a B.

Some 35 percent of the graduates received an A, while 54 percent scored a B.

It’s natural for a student to want to get good grades, but in Korea, known as one of the most academic and competitive countries in the world when it comes to education, things get a bit different.

According to students, the first thing to look for when registering for classes is asking fellow peers or seniors one thing: does the professor give good grades?

``Of course, I would try to find something interesting, but the most important would be the grades. During the registering period, the online board is full of questions from students asking about particular courses and professors. The main issue is about the scores,’’ said senior Kim So-yeon from Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul.

``Landing a job is already difficult as it is. Students all want to get good grades no matter what,’’ she added.

When a student gets a bad grade, he or she could re-take the course and try out another time. Some schools, such as Seoul National University and Hanyang University, only allow students to retake the same classes when they get a C plus or lower.

In this case, students would just flunk the class, get a bad grade and take the course again, or even ask the professor to give them a bad score.

``I’ve tried it,’’ said 28-year-old office worker Lee Soo-min who graduated last year.

``I didn’t take my finals to fail the course and retook the class again,’’ he added.

For professors, it’s difficult to give out bad grades, as it may lead to a bad reputation and eventually get the class canceled altogether.

``When a student comes to talk about grades, it’s a mixed feeling. As a professor, I know we have to be fair, but then I also know how desperate they are. So I tend to cut them some slack, especially the seniors,’’ said a Mass Communication and Journalism professor from a university in Seoul.

Ironically though, personnel managers at firms are fully aware of this phenomenon.

According to a survey conducted by a recruiting portal site called Alba Heaven last month on some 300 personnel managers, 30 percent of them said they thought GPA scores were the least reliable. Instead, 78.5 percent of the managers chose working experience as the most important.

대학학점 거품 여전..졸업생 90%가 B학점이상

2010학년도 일반대학 졸업생 90% 이상이 평균 B학점 이상을 받고, 대학 재학생의 74%는 B학점 이상을 받는 등 대학가의 학점 인플레 현상이 여전한 것으로 나타났다.

교육과학기술부와 한국대학교육협의회는 31일 대학알리미(www.academyinfo.go.kr)를 통해 전국 192개 4년제 일반대학의 '2010학년도 재학생 교과목별 성적평가 결과 및 졸업생 졸업평점평균'을 공개했다.

자료에 따르면 4년제 일반대 190개교 재학생이 각 교과목에서 딴 학점은 A학점 37.8%, B학점 36.2%로 B학점 이상 학생비율은 74%였다. C학점은 18.3%, D학점은 3.5%, F학점은 4.2% 였다.

4년제 일반대 185개교 졸업생(지난해 8월, 올해 2월 졸업생)의 졸업평점평균은 A학점 35.4%, B학점 54.9%로 전체 졸업생의 90.3%가 B학점 이상을 받았다.

재학생과 졸업생의 평점평균은 전년도와 비교해 각각 평균 0.2%포인트, 0.8%포인트 떨어졌고, C이하 학점 비율은 약간 높아졌지만 유의미하다고 할만한 변화는 없어 대학가의 학점 거품이 꺼지지 않고 있음을 보여줬다.

졸업평점평균이 B학점 이상인 학생비율은 국공립대(94.4%)가 사립대(89.3%)보다, 수도권 대학(91.4%)로 비수도권 대학(89.6%)보다 높았다.

계열별로는 교육계열이 96.8%로 가장 높았고, 인문계열(91%), 자연계열(90.7%), 사회계열(89.8%), 예체능계열(88.6%)순이었다.

각 대학의 평점 산정기준(4.5점 또는 4.3점 만점)을 고려해 졸업평균평점을 100점 만점으로 환산한 결과에서는 명신대가 91.92점으로 가장 높았고, 동양대가 66.95점으로 가장 낮았다.

주요 대학의 졸업평균평점은 한국외대 80.7점, 포항공대 79.53점, 건국대 79.31점, 연세대 78.81점, 고려대 78.63점, 서울대 77.78점, 이화여대 77.42점, 한양대 77.12점, 성균관대 77.01점, 동국대 76.83점, 경희대 75.19점, 서강대 74.6점, 중앙대 73.28점 등이었다.

주요 대학들의 재학생 A학점 비율은 서울대 49.8%, 포항공대 49.7%, 한국외대 44.7%, 연세대 41.6%, 한양대 41.4%, 고려대 38.8%,중앙대 36.1%, 성균관대 35.3%, 서강대 33.7% 등이었다. (연합뉴스)