Uniform grading system

1. I do not feel that there is any need for adopting a uniform grading system for all universities in the country.

2. If any attempt is made at all, the uniformity should be made to the best system in the country followed by IBA which is: Grade A B+ B C+ C D+ D.

Points- 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1.

My opinion is based on the following arguments:

1. In the name of 'Market Economy' wholesale licences are given to anybody in any part of the country for opening private universities. Evaluation of the students should be left to the universities. The market will evaluate the universities and their graduates considering their grading systems along with many other things. UGC and the government should be concerned only about the quality of education imparted by these universities. The quality of education depends on: a. quality of input students - minimum qualification of applicants, recruitment process etc., b. quality of processing - curriculum, methodology, teaching aids etc., and c. quality of the processors - teachers and staff.

Uniformity of grading system will neither ensure quality of education nor will it help employers in their evaluation of the graduates for employment. Employers not only have to judge equivalency of grades of the graduates of universities, they need also to judge equivalency of divisions and grades of SSC, HSC, Madrassah certificates, O/A levels and some foreign degrees besides many other criteria in their evaluation of prospective employees.

2. There should not be any fixed scores in terms of percentage for assigning grades because this is meaningless. Evaluation of a student's academic performance is very complex, difficult and imperfect, and hence judgmental. Scoring of a student in an exam depends on the nature of the subject, the difficulty level of questions and the degree of strictness / leniency of checking the scripts. These are all judgmental on the part of a teacher. So, the same script may earn different scores from different teachers for all these reasons. Therefore, it is meaningless to assign grades on a fixed scale of percentage scores. That's why assignment of grades is based on the relative performance of a student in his/her class throughout the world and that is what is practiced at IBA.

3. There shouldn't be too many grades (e.g., A-, B-, C- etc.) as well. Having too many grades is against the spirit of having grades instead of continuous grade points or scores. Classified data are more comprehensible and meaningful than detailed raw data especially when the data is a judgmental one like the exam scores. A student scoring A in a subject is more likely to know the subject better than a student scoring B but less likely than that scoring A- or even B+. At IBA we used to have only A, B, C, D, and F grades. We introduced the intermediate grades only in the recent past. Some teachers still do not give the intermediate grades sometimes.