iCGPA ready to roll out

PUTRAJAYA: The grading system was six years in the making but the Higher Education Ministry is now ready to roll it out.

Some first-year students at five public universities will be a part of the new integrated cumulative grade point average (iCGPA) pilot programme next month.

The varsities are Universiti Ke­­bang­saan Malaysia (UKM), Univer­siti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Univer­siti Malaysia Terengganu, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Universiti Malaysia Pahang.

The iCGPA, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, was in line with the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Educa­tion) first shift in producing holistic, entrepreneurial and balanced graduates.

“We didn’t dream this up overnight,” said Idris.

Since 2009, the ministry had been studying the concept with ad­­­­vice on standards from the Ma­­lay­­­­sian Qua­­lifications Agency, he said.

He added that there was also collaboration with experts, including those from UKM and UiTM.

“We already have the instrument. Now, it is a matter of execution,” he said after the ministry’s Hari Raya event here yesterday.

Under the new system, students will graduate with a complete “re­­port card”, detailing not just their subjects and performance but the skills that they have picked up along the way.

These include leadership, communication, entrepreneurial, social and critical thinking skills, which will be displayed in a “spider web”.

Around 300 students will get to “experience” the iCGPA.

The small number – a mere 0.0075% of the 40,000 students who enrol in public universities every year – is due to the fact that only one faculty will be chosen from each university.

“We are still in discussion with the universities and will look at how ready the faculties are to apply the system before making a decision,” said Idris.

* See full report in StarEducate this Sunday.