As part of our continued efforts to align the standards of The UWI more closely with international norms that reflect best practice, a Grade Point Average (GPA) system is being introduced for new postgraduate students with effect from the 2021/2022 academic year.
Here’s why it's important:
- GPA is a representation of student performance on transcripts
- Students’ performance in each attempt at a course will be taken into consideration
- Quality points are earned even if students do not reach the threshold of a pass with coursework and/or final exam in a course
- Failing a single course twice will not result in being Required to Withdraw (RTW)
- No separate distinction is required for research projects in order to receive an overall distinction in the award of the degree
- An additional award of degree category of ‘Merit’ has been introduced along with ‘Pass’ and ‘Distinction’ for graduate programmes
- It allows more efficient performance tracking, for both for students and faculty
- It provides a measurement of academic performance that makes for easy comparison by other international universities for the purposes of transfer or admission
