In recent years, the phenomenon of Chinese university students “competing for academic credit points” (“credit point competition”) has been spreading across universities nationwide. More and more students are joining this score competition from the beginning of their studies. Driven by multiple pressures, academic credits are transforming from a means of teaching evaluation to an important indicator affecting students’ academic performance, further studies, and employment opportunities.
The term “competing for academic credit points” means that students are fighting fiercely for grades, racing against each other, but studying more does not necessarily mean studying better. Many students are not motivated by a love for learning more, but rather by fear of being eliminated or falling behind if they don’t compete. As a result, everyone is exhausted but unable to stop.
According to a report by “China News Weekly,” Wen Ting (pseudonym), a junior student majoring in Chemistry at a “double non-elite” college in the Sichuan-Chongqing region, feels anxious every time the grades are released. In order to maintain the top spot in her major, she has centered all her learning strategies around credit points since her freshman year, including serving as a study committee member to earn more regular assessment points. Similar strategies are not uncommon. Her “secret to increasing credit points” shared on social media received over 6,000 likes within two days, indicating that “credit point anxiety” is prevalent in universities.
Dong Pei (pseudonym), a junior student at a private college in Guangdong, admitted that in her efforts to apply for graduate programs at overseas universities, she has been working to improve her credit points since her freshman year. She even learned the “art of negotiating grades” shared on social media, actively communicating with teachers to request re-evaluation opportunities. To avoid taking difficult courses, she started prioritizing “easy courses” and tried to sit in the front row in class to improve her regular assessment grades.
Students at some prestigious universities are also deeply entrenched in the credit point competition. Wu Han (pseudonym), a freshman at a “Project 985” university in Beijing, revealed that counselors emphasized during orientation that “those who score high points will succeed”; while Dai Lu, a graduate from a “Project 211” university in the south, continued to devote a considerable amount of time to drilling exercises in preparation for further studies, eventually securing admission to a prestigious school with a top three ranking in her major.
Niu Xinchun, Deputy Director of the Institute of Higher Education at Fudan University, pointed out that the prevalence of “meritocracy” in society has turned credit points from an educational evaluation tool into an end in itself, leading to a disconnect between students’ satisfaction with learning and their credit points. He emphasized that the excessive pursuit of easy credit courses actually weakens students’ depth of learning experience and academic interest.