The ratio of A scores that Pusan National University (PNU) can award will increase from the original 30% to 40% of the students.

According to the PNU Office of Education Affairs, the rate of A credits for the grade based on a curve will be increased by 10% from the first semester of 2022. Thus, the ratio of A to B credits is the same as before, which is 70%. As a result, the percentage of students graded with A credit increased up to 40% at professors’ discretion.

By the last semester, the percentage of A credits of PNU was lower compared to other universities. Looking into the '2020 the ratio of college students' credits' released by the Ministry of Education last year, 54.7% of students in four-year universities received A, while our university was about 25% lower. Comparing PNU with some highly ranked universities such as Seoul National University (63%) and Yonsei University (67.2%), the gap becomes bigger than 30%.  

Because of this, the grade ratio complaints were continuously raised among students. According to the survey that the PNU student council conducted among 463 students, 70% answered that the current grading ratio system is inappropriate. The biggest reason was the loss due to the deterioration of competitiveness with other universities. Many students were afraid of the drop in their competitiveness after graduation because of difficulties in getting good grades.  

Based on the result, the student council has discussed the agenda of adjusting the grading ratio system with the PNU Administration. Kang Gun-Wook (18. Dept. of Business administration), the head of the emergency committee, said, "As soon as I began the term as the head of the emergency committee, I discussed this issue of adjusting the rate of A credits first with the school, but it took a bit of time to come to an end because it needed a number of deliberations and decision-making bodies.”  

Most of the students are welcoming the adjustment of the A credit ratio. Sin Seo-Yeong (17, Dept. of Media & Communication) said, "the increased non-face-to-face classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic made several universities raise the ratio of A credit. It would be nicer for our school to raise its ratio earlier, but I’m glad that more students can get A now.”

On the other hand, there are voices complaining regarding the adjustment of the A ratio. Looking at the PNU online community site, "Everytime", the post uploaded on January 24th claiming that it is better to maintain the ratio of A credits and have differentiated competitiveness from other universities is getting traction. The writer asserted, "it is better to leave the system as it is unless more students get higher grades with the change to the absolute evaluation system. It seems like without enough respect and reflection of students' opinions in the process of adjusting the grading ratio system, the decision of raising ratio of A scores 10% is neither fish nor fowl.”

Meanwhile, there are students concerned that the adjustment of A ratio might lead to 'grade inflation.' Grade inflation is the phenomenon in which the value is not recognized as the number of students getting high grades increases. In response to this, an anonymous official of PNU office of Education Affairs said, "Because the professors in charge can adjust the A ratio less than 40% and the ratio of the B is same as the previous year, it is hard for this adjustment to lead to grade inflation.”

By Kim Ye-Sin, Reporter

Translated by Lee Su-Hyun, Reporter