>#Fall in firsts after alarm over degree inflation
>Nicola Woolcock
>Friday January 20 2023, 12.01am GMT, The Times
>Almost a third of graduates were awarded a first-class degree last summer, a fall from the previous year but still higher than before the pandemic.
>Thirty-two per cent achieved a first in 2022, down from the record high of 36 per cent in 2021 but more than the 28 per cent in 2019 and 2018.
>Universities were told to rein in the number of top degree classifications by the Office for Students (OfS), which has said increases at many institutions could not be justified.
>During lockdown, many universities adopted “no detriment” policies to mitigate the impact of Covid disruption, and were generous in grading.
Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, has said that by this summer it will have brought the proportion of firsts and 2:1s back to pre-pandemic levels. In 2011, the year before tuition fees trebled to £9,000, only 15 per cent of graduates achieved a first.
>Figures published yesterday by the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that 46 per cent graduated last summer with a 2:1, the same as in 2021 but two percentage points lower than in 2019.
>Susan Lapworth, chief executive of the OfS, said the figures on degree classification showed a “welcome decrease back towards pre-pandemic levels in the proportion of first-class degrees awarded to students”.
>She added: “Left unchecked, grade inflation can erode public trust and it is important that the OfS intervenes where it has concerns about the credibility of degrees.”
>It is the first time since at least 2010-11 that the proportion of first-class degrees has fallen from the previous year.
>Robert Halfon, the universities minister, has called for more degree apprenticeships. In a letter to vice-chancellors, he said: “I want to see many more degree apprenticeships delivered by a wider range of universities. Our most prestigious universities should lead by example, building parity of esteem between high-quality technical courses and academic degrees.”
>He said up to £8 million would be made available to universities wanting to offer more degree apprenticeships.
It’s definitely obvious grades are inflated. The undergrads I teach are less and less able to do the basics, and expecting more and more spoonfeeding. We even had some outright just ask what was on the exam
I’m intrigued by this, bearing on mind back in the 70’s a 2:2 seemed respectable. A quick google tells me that in 2018 the top 50 universities (in terms of grades awarded) had more that 80% 2:1 or first, does that mean that a 2:2 is now pretty much useless, or is class of degree simply not that important anymore?
I would be more inclined to argue that this fall is due to the current crop of students being affected by Covid
​
at present, they either did their GCSE’s over lockdown, their second or final year under lockdown, or their A levels under lockdown – massive disruption across the board.
Not to mention those students who got into University on the back of the predicted grades their teacher gave them (which imo were generous to put it mildly in some cases) leading to people attending university when they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.
I predicted this would happen back when teachers were giving out generous predictive grades it’ll do nothing but hinder the students, it’ll affect their mental health and ultimately their future careers if they finish uni with a below average grade. It’s better to take a year, either doing a foundation course or maybe apply for a different course.
As someone who graduated in the early 90s I well remember we had about 30 people on our course and of those, 1 got a first.
I graduated this year in engineering, I’d say about 60-70% of my cohort got a first including me. And I can say we did not deserve that at all
I really wish we could go back to when people didn’t need degrees to be on the base level of employability (excluding trades, etc).
None of my father’s generation had a degree. None of them. They all have good jobs and nice houses. I don’t think the same can be said for my generation.
Grades are so inflated at some unis.
I graduated in 2017,and so many people got 2:1 it even firsts when they clearly were terrible at the subject.
The uni was completely unwilling to ever fial anyone, people would hand in assignments that ate just 10 lines long and they’d get 60% on it somehow, someone else’s dissertation was 2 pages long, he started it a week before the due date and still passed…
I got a first, but I also tried quite hard, but I think from a better university it would have been a 2:1 at most.
We had a group presentation one time, and this guy who never does anything got placed in our group. He did absolutely nothing, and in the presentation, for his section stood up and said ‘ill be honest, I haven’t done anything for these sections’ and then sat back down. We complained about him numerous times, and he still got a passing grade, absolute joke.
I got a first, but was also on the Dean’s List in my final year – this seems to actually be a better achievement for employers than getting a first.
Isn’t this a multi-factor problem. In my eyes I see it as this;
1. Secondary school teaching has dropped in quality. We have a lack of STEM teachers. Physics especially is very understaffed across the board. As much as we like to praise teachers we don’t give enough attention to the issue of a lot of them being woefully inadequate when it comes to teaching more complex subjects at higher levels. I thought it was quite funny when I was at school that my PE teacher was also an IT teacher and a language teacher, but didn’t really teach us anything.
2. Education system is broken… many facets to unpack but for me the biggest issue was not focussing on education for education sake or nurturing an understanding of the subject. Also classroom control issues. School has become less and institution of knowledge and more like a social child minding service.
3. Universities also need to accept the blame. Why are they inflating grades?
4. Students will Ofcourse start to expect easier grades and more spoonfeeding this is a government backed change in thinking. When universities were free or low cost they were institutes of merit. Now they are seen as providers of a service and the students see them selves as clients. I must say I am with the students on this one. If I’m paying £9k a year for a course I expect some quality service, quality teaching and if not then I expect my qualification bow tied.
Having worked with students, they might be OK at regurgitating facts but are terrible at actual analysis and independent thinking. They are not moving on from GCSE-level thinking, where regurgitating facts gets you a decent grade, they don’t seem to realise that universities expect you do some independent learning and can demonstrate evidence of that. The best students are those who can put forward an argument and back it up with their own research, yet too many students don’t seem to know how to research a topic and find suitable sources. It is only right that fewer top grades are awarded based on that.
To be fair I finished my degree 10 years ago and it was in technical arts / software so kind of artsy but needed some math and basic self learning ability.. my uni was so hard on us that I must have been working 12 hiur days or more out of the time and got a 2:1 but then other people from lesser known unis got 1st and only did 2 half days a week…. I think some shite unis fabricate grades or dish out higher ones easier to get funding as I briefly worked with a few people who got firsts but went to shite unis and their knowledge and ability was really sub par, they have worked in a similar industry for 6-10 years now and still have quality/knowledge of a student at a decent uni
A lot of people subscribe to the “grade inflation” narrative. There might be truth to it, but consider that Universities have been increasing entry requirements as more and more people want to go. It makes sense that asking for higher academic achievers results in higher academic achievement.
Also consider that undergraduates are very aware of job prospects after university. If they know a 2:1 is the requirement on most job adverts, they’re going to make sure they at least achieve a 2:1. When a 2:2 was, quite rightly, considered a pass there would have been less pressure to achieve a 2:1.
I graduated in 2019 in a subject I held interest in for years before and already knew much about. I still had to work very hard to ensure a 1st. I can say first-hand that they’re not just handed out. If I studied any other course, I think I’d be proud to achieve a 2:1 and even a 2:2 depending on the subject. Especially if it were my first degree.
I’m still glad to hear this news, though. The increase (28% to 35%!) in first-class honours awarded between 2019 and 2020 is difficult to justify. At most, there were fewer distractions and no night life.
14 comments
>#Fall in firsts after alarm over degree inflation
>Nicola Woolcock
>Friday January 20 2023, 12.01am GMT, The Times
>Almost a third of graduates were awarded a first-class degree last summer, a fall from the previous year but still higher than before the pandemic.
>Thirty-two per cent achieved a first in 2022, down from the record high of 36 per cent in 2021 but more than the 28 per cent in 2019 and 2018.
>Universities were told to rein in the number of top degree classifications by the Office for Students (OfS), which has said increases at many institutions could not be justified.
>During lockdown, many universities adopted “no detriment” policies to mitigate the impact of Covid disruption, and were generous in grading.
Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, has said that by this summer it will have brought the proportion of firsts and 2:1s back to pre-pandemic levels. In 2011, the year before tuition fees trebled to £9,000, only 15 per cent of graduates achieved a first.
>Figures published yesterday by the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that 46 per cent graduated last summer with a 2:1, the same as in 2021 but two percentage points lower than in 2019.
>Susan Lapworth, chief executive of the OfS, said the figures on degree classification showed a “welcome decrease back towards pre-pandemic levels in the proportion of first-class degrees awarded to students”.
>She added: “Left unchecked, grade inflation can erode public trust and it is important that the OfS intervenes where it has concerns about the credibility of degrees.”
>It is the first time since at least 2010-11 that the proportion of first-class degrees has fallen from the previous year.
>Robert Halfon, the universities minister, has called for more degree apprenticeships. In a letter to vice-chancellors, he said: “I want to see many more degree apprenticeships delivered by a wider range of universities. Our most prestigious universities should lead by example, building parity of esteem between high-quality technical courses and academic degrees.”
>He said up to £8 million would be made available to universities wanting to offer more degree apprenticeships.
It’s definitely obvious grades are inflated. The undergrads I teach are less and less able to do the basics, and expecting more and more spoonfeeding. We even had some outright just ask what was on the exam
I’m intrigued by this, bearing on mind back in the 70’s a 2:2 seemed respectable. A quick google tells me that in 2018 the top 50 universities (in terms of grades awarded) had more that 80% 2:1 or first, does that mean that a 2:2 is now pretty much useless, or is class of degree simply not that important anymore?
I would be more inclined to argue that this fall is due to the current crop of students being affected by Covid
​
at present, they either did their GCSE’s over lockdown, their second or final year under lockdown, or their A levels under lockdown – massive disruption across the board.
Not to mention those students who got into University on the back of the predicted grades their teacher gave them (which imo were generous to put it mildly in some cases) leading to people attending university when they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.
I predicted this would happen back when teachers were giving out generous predictive grades it’ll do nothing but hinder the students, it’ll affect their mental health and ultimately their future careers if they finish uni with a below average grade. It’s better to take a year, either doing a foundation course or maybe apply for a different course.
As someone who graduated in the early 90s I well remember we had about 30 people on our course and of those, 1 got a first.
I graduated this year in engineering, I’d say about 60-70% of my cohort got a first including me. And I can say we did not deserve that at all
I really wish we could go back to when people didn’t need degrees to be on the base level of employability (excluding trades, etc).
None of my father’s generation had a degree. None of them. They all have good jobs and nice houses. I don’t think the same can be said for my generation.
Grades are so inflated at some unis.
I graduated in 2017,and so many people got 2:1 it even firsts when they clearly were terrible at the subject.
The uni was completely unwilling to ever fial anyone, people would hand in assignments that ate just 10 lines long and they’d get 60% on it somehow, someone else’s dissertation was 2 pages long, he started it a week before the due date and still passed…
I got a first, but I also tried quite hard, but I think from a better university it would have been a 2:1 at most.
We had a group presentation one time, and this guy who never does anything got placed in our group. He did absolutely nothing, and in the presentation, for his section stood up and said ‘ill be honest, I haven’t done anything for these sections’ and then sat back down. We complained about him numerous times, and he still got a passing grade, absolute joke.
I got a first, but was also on the Dean’s List in my final year – this seems to actually be a better achievement for employers than getting a first.
Isn’t this a multi-factor problem. In my eyes I see it as this;
1. Secondary school teaching has dropped in quality. We have a lack of STEM teachers. Physics especially is very understaffed across the board. As much as we like to praise teachers we don’t give enough attention to the issue of a lot of them being woefully inadequate when it comes to teaching more complex subjects at higher levels. I thought it was quite funny when I was at school that my PE teacher was also an IT teacher and a language teacher, but didn’t really teach us anything.
2. Education system is broken… many facets to unpack but for me the biggest issue was not focussing on education for education sake or nurturing an understanding of the subject. Also classroom control issues. School has become less and institution of knowledge and more like a social child minding service.
3. Universities also need to accept the blame. Why are they inflating grades?
4. Students will Ofcourse start to expect easier grades and more spoonfeeding this is a government backed change in thinking. When universities were free or low cost they were institutes of merit. Now they are seen as providers of a service and the students see them selves as clients. I must say I am with the students on this one. If I’m paying £9k a year for a course I expect some quality service, quality teaching and if not then I expect my qualification bow tied.
Having worked with students, they might be OK at regurgitating facts but are terrible at actual analysis and independent thinking. They are not moving on from GCSE-level thinking, where regurgitating facts gets you a decent grade, they don’t seem to realise that universities expect you do some independent learning and can demonstrate evidence of that. The best students are those who can put forward an argument and back it up with their own research, yet too many students don’t seem to know how to research a topic and find suitable sources. It is only right that fewer top grades are awarded based on that.
To be fair I finished my degree 10 years ago and it was in technical arts / software so kind of artsy but needed some math and basic self learning ability.. my uni was so hard on us that I must have been working 12 hiur days or more out of the time and got a 2:1 but then other people from lesser known unis got 1st and only did 2 half days a week…. I think some shite unis fabricate grades or dish out higher ones easier to get funding as I briefly worked with a few people who got firsts but went to shite unis and their knowledge and ability was really sub par, they have worked in a similar industry for 6-10 years now and still have quality/knowledge of a student at a decent uni
A lot of people subscribe to the “grade inflation” narrative. There might be truth to it, but consider that Universities have been increasing entry requirements as more and more people want to go. It makes sense that asking for higher academic achievers results in higher academic achievement.
Also consider that undergraduates are very aware of job prospects after university. If they know a 2:1 is the requirement on most job adverts, they’re going to make sure they at least achieve a 2:1. When a 2:2 was, quite rightly, considered a pass there would have been less pressure to achieve a 2:1.
I graduated in 2019 in a subject I held interest in for years before and already knew much about. I still had to work very hard to ensure a 1st. I can say first-hand that they’re not just handed out. If I studied any other course, I think I’d be proud to achieve a 2:1 and even a 2:2 depending on the subject. Especially if it were my first degree.
I’m still glad to hear this news, though. The increase (28% to 35%!) in first-class honours awarded between 2019 and 2020 is difficult to justify. At most, there were fewer distractions and no night life.