Grade Inflation Continued Until Last Year... 93.6% of Graduates Scored Above 80 Points

In 2021, the second year of COVID-19, 83.4% of students earned a B grade or higher
Although this decreased compared to the previous year, it is 11.7%p higher than before COVID-19
The proportion of graduation conversion scores of 80 points or higher increased by 1.8%p compared to the previous year

On the 2nd, students who started the new semester at Yonsei University in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, are moving forward./Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

As remote classes continued for over two years, the so-called 'grade inflation' phenomenon, where students' grades generally rise due to absolute evaluation, was observed again last year.

According to the analysis of the April 2021 university information disclosure announced by the Ministry of Education and the University Education Council on the 29th, 83.4% of students received a grade of B or higher last year, a decrease of 4.1 percentage points compared to the previous year. Among enrolled students, 47.9% received an A grade, and 35.4% received a B grade.

Compared to before the outbreak of COVID-19, the percentage of students receiving B grades or higher increased by 11.7 percentage points. In 2019, only 71.7% of students received B grades or higher, but with the significant expansion of remote classes, this surged to 87.5% in 2020.

The proportion of graduates who scored 80 points or higher based on converted scores was 93.6%, an increase of 1.8 percentage points from the previous year (91.8%). The converted score refers to the value obtained by converting the average graduation GPA into a percentage score.

An official from the Ministry of Education explained, "The high proportion of B grades or higher is due to the expansion of absolute evaluation caused by restrictions on face-to-face classes, and as academic management becomes stricter, this proportion is expected to continue decreasing. The trend of high converted scores among graduates will have an impact for the time being."

For the 2022 academic year, tuition fees were frozen at 188 out of 194 universities (96.9%). Eight schools reduced their tuition fees. The average annual tuition fee per student was 6,763,100 KRW, an increase of 18,400 KRW compared to the previous year. This increase is due to the rise in admission quotas for arts and engineering fields. Private universities charged 7.52 million KRW, national and public universities charged 4.19 million KRW, universities in the metropolitan area charged 7.62 million KRW, and those outside the metropolitan area charged 6.23 million KRW.

With the abolition of university entrance fees set to disappear next year, private universities have also moved to abolish entrance fees, with 90 out of 155 private universities (58.4%) eliminating entrance fees in the 2022 academic year. The average entrance fee burden per student was 72,000 KRW, a reduction of 565,000 KRW compared to before the abolition in 2017.

The proportion of lectures taught by full-time faculty in the first semester was 66.1%, a decrease of 1.0 percentage point from the first semester of 2021 (67.1%). The proportion of lectures taught by adjunct instructors increased by 0.4 percentage points to 21.4% compared to the previous year. The proportion of small classes with 20 or fewer students in the first semester of 2022 was 38.9%, up 1.3 percentage points from 37.6% in the first semester of 2021.

Among 133 junior colleges, 118 (88.7%) froze or reduced tuition fees this year. The average annual tuition fee was 6,001,200 KRW, an increase of 27,100 KRW compared to 5,974,100 KRW the previous year. The average entrance fee burden per student was 215,200 KRW, a decrease of 86,000 KRW from the previous year, and a 67.1% reduction (438,200 KRW) compared to 653,000 KRW in 2017 before the abolition of entrance fees.

At junior colleges, the proportion of enrolled students who received a B grade or higher by subject last year was 78.9%, a decrease of 3.5 percentage points compared to 82.4% the previous year. The proportion of graduates with converted scores of 80 points or higher was 86.8%, an increase of 1.0 percentage point compared to the previous year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.