Students getting a ‘First’ degree rise from 7% to 26% in 20 years
THE proportion of students leaving university with a First has almost quadrupled over the past 20 years following rampant grade inflation, a study has found.
It has increased from 7 per cent in 1997 to 26 per cent this year, research by the Reform think-tank found. And the proportion getting at least a 2:1 – or Upper Second – has increased from 47 per cent to 75 per cent in the same period.
The shift has proved difficult for employers, who once used the 2:1 grade to pinpoint good candidates and the First to identify truly exceptional people.
Experts say universities, which receive £17.7billion of tuition fee revenue each year, have been racing to award as many
‘Eventually they will lose currency’
top marks as they can so that they can attract more students – and money.
The report’s author, Tom Richmond, a former adviser at the Department for Education, said: ‘Rocketing degree grade inflation is in no one’s interest.
‘Universities may think easier degrees are a way to attract students, but eventually they will lose currency and students will go elsewhere, even overseas.’
Reform said a new regulator should be established to set degree-course standards and universities should lose the freedom to select students’ degree grades.
All final-year students would sit a new, national assessment. The proportion of grades awarded at a national level for each subject would be set at 10 per cent of students receiving a First, 40 per cent a 2:1, 40 per cent a 2:2 and 10 per cent a Third.
Education Secretary Damian Hinds said it was time for universities to put an end to grade inflation.