Our Methodology
Precision is our promise. Here is how we ensure 99.9% accuracy across 9,000+ grading systems.
1. WES-Aligned Ingestion
We monitor verified data pipelines from major university registrars and authoritative bodies (WES, Scholaro, NCAA) weekly, ensuring 100% alignment with North American evaluation standards.
2. Enterprise Audit
Every data point undergoes a triple-check verification. Conflicting scales are flagged for human review and cross-referenced with official university PDF transcripts.
3. Global Compliance
Our data mappings strictly follow the UNESCO ISCED 2011 framework and WHED institutional indexing for maximum international portability.
Primary Data Sources
Every grading scale in our database is traced to at least one authoritative source. Below are the primary references we use, with the date we last verified each source.
World Education Services (WES) — Grade Conversion Guide
Authoritative conversion tables for 100+ country systems. WES is the most cited credential evaluation body in North America.
Scholaro Global GPA Calculator — Country Database
Academic grading databases for 200+ countries, cross-referenced with university registrar documents.
UNESCO — International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011)
Provides the structural framework for categorizing educational levels and qualification types globally.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) — U.S. Department of Education
Official U.S. grading standards and 4.0 GPA scale conventions used as the conversion target scale.
Ministry of Education Websites — Country-specific archives
Direct consultation of official Ministry of Education policy documents for India (UGC), UK (QAA), Germany (KMK), Australia (AQF), Canada, and 35+ other countries.
European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) Users' Guide
Used for ECTS credit equivalence calculations in our European university conversions.
QS World University Rankings — Institutional Profiles
Used to prioritize verification efforts — Top 500 QS institutions receive monthly audits.
Verification Standards
Authoritative Bodies & Compliance
Official University Registrars: Direct scraping of policy pages. If a university's registrar publishes a grading scale PDF, we ingest and version-track it.
WHED & ISCED Mapping: Institutions are indexed via the World Higher Education Database, and levels are mapped using UNESCO ISCED standards.
WES equivalency: Every national scale is verified against the World Education Services (WES) grading database to ensure conversion accuracy for international study.
Ministry of Education Archives: Accessing national grading standards for countries including India (UGC circular dated July 2023), Germany (KMK standards 2022), UK (QAA Qualification Characteristics 2024).
Update Frequency
Our "Freshness Engine" scans for changes every 30 days for major institutions (Top 500 QS) and every 90 days for all other institutions. Community-flagged issues are reviewed within 48 hours.