MQA changes academic qualification criteria

The Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA) has brought significant changes to the qualification criteria of the courses in all the colleges and universities in the Maldives, mandating a minimum requirement of 50 percent pass marks with a controlled assessment.

The changes to the qualification criteria have been publicized in the Government Gazette by MQA on Sunday. These changes include:

At least one piece of work (written or otherwise) that assesses the individual capabilities of students must be produced, and all the modules in the programs from MNQF Level 1 to Level 9 (except Masters by Research) must include exams equivalent to at least 50 percent of the total marks. These exams should be supervised, time-limited, and controlled.

Fifty percent of the total assessment of a module must be controlled (unassisted), and the students are required to pass each controlled assessment that counts towards 50 percent of the total assessment of a module.

The Maldives National University (MNU) has been following these criteria in all of its courses.

Student qualification and capabilities are mainly assessed through individual assignments, with 70 percent of marks from assignments counted towards the total marks of the modules in some colleges and universities while in others assignments take up higher share of the total marks for modules.

In many instances, fraudulent practices including plagiarism and more recently utilization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT have been reported. The new qualification criteria aims to limit such malpractices.