Inquiry if students get 2:2s!

PROFESSORS at an elite university have been told they will face investigation over their marking if they award average grades lower than a 2:1.

An email to staff at Queen Mary University of London’s business and management department said they would have to explain themselves if results failed to reach specific criteria.

A 2:1 – also known as an upper second – is often the minimum that graduate employers ask for, with 60 per cent usually the lower threshold for this grade.

The email asked assessors to bear in mind the ‘60:60:60’ principle. This indicates that staff will be ‘asked to explain’ if their class’s average mark ‘is below 60 and/or fewer than 60 per cent of the students receive a mark of more than 60’.

Critics said the message, uncovered by Times Higher Education, suggested academic staff were being pressured to ensure a large number of students achieved good marks.

Last year former universities minister Jo Johnson said grade inflation was ‘ripping through English higher education’.

Queen Mary, a Russell Group university, said the ‘60:60:60 principle’ was used only in its business school for marks that were ‘significantly below’ those at comparable universities.