Student reactions vary over university grading system

The Higher Education Council’s decision to hold final examinations remotely for all courses and majors in Jordanian universities and university colleges for the second semester of the academic year 2020-21 has drawn mixed reactions from students, writes Joy Mazahreh for The Jordan Times.

Final exams for courses that require practical evaluation will be conducted in person while adhering to health and safety procedures, according to the council’s decisions, under the chairmanship of Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Muhammad Abu Qdais. The decision also included the continuation of the ‘pass/fail’ system, which allows students to choose the subjects to be counted in the GPA (grade point average). However, this decision excluded clinical stage students who major in dentistry and medicine.

Yousef, who preferred to go by a single name, is a mechanical engineering student at the German Jordanian University who is not satisfied with the grading system. “The pass/fail grading system fails to distinguish between hardworking students and those who just want to get by,” Yousef told The Jordan Times.
Full report on The Jordan Times site