South Korean university graduates face rising grade inflation

Data released by Representative Seo Bum-soo of the National Assembly Education Committee reveals a significant rise in grade inflation among four-year university graduates in South Korea. According to Ministry of Education records analyzing approximately 1.57 million graduates from 200 universities, the proportion of students graduating with scores of 90 or higher rose from 44.0% in 2021 to 53.4% in 2025.

Top-tier graduates scoring 95 or above saw a 1.8-fold increase, rising from 9.9% to 18.1% over the same period. This trend is even more pronounced at major institutions in Seoul, where the percentage of students scoring 95 or above doubled to 34.7%. Conversely, the percentage of students graduating with scores below 70 has dwindled to nearly zero.

The report also highlights a widening regional gap in academic grading. While 67.0% of graduates from universities in Seoul achieved scores of 90 or higher, only 39.8% of graduates in Gyeongbuk and 42.2% in the Jeonnam and Gwangju regions reached that threshold.

Representative Seo has called for the Ministry of Education to establish grading guidelines and strengthen the disclosure of grade distributions to restore the academic credibility and differentiation of university transcripts.