The Office of Higher Education Commission (Ohec) has planned to further raise the weighting of students' grades to 40 per cent next year, from 30 per cent this year and 10 per cent last year.

"I think it's unfair if these grades carry 40-per-cent weighting next year because schools still have different standards in giving grades," said Yos Tansakul, a student from Triam Udom Suksa School. He felt the grades should get only a 10-per-cent weighting.

He said if the authorities wished to go ahead with the "admission" system in which students' school grades count for university admissions, all schools should be brought under the same, single standard.

Another student, Akrawut Kowitdamrong from Samut Prakan, also felt school grades should account for just 10 per cent in university-admission criteria. "Some schools grant high grades readily while others are much tougher," he said. In a related development, Dr Pratya Vesarach, chair of the University Presidents Council of Thailand, said he was going to propose that the grades' weighting remain at 30 per cent next year. He said his proposal would be raised at a meeting of the council on April 29. "There are so many problems this year and we need to restore students' trust in the university admission system [before implementing the change]," he said.

Earlier this month, Ohec twice postponed the deadline for submitting applications for university admission because the National Institute of Education Testing Service twice released erroneous scores for the O-Net (Ordinary National Educational Test) and A-Net (Advanced National Education Test).

This year is the first time the O-Net and A-Net scores are being used as admission criteria for university.

The official score announcement is now rescheduled to April 30.