UK universities face grade inflation crackdown

The government has announced plans to crack down on grade inflation in universities amid fears that the growing number of first-class degrees being awarded to students is undermining their value.

More than a quarter of graduates (26%) were awarded a first-class degree last year, up from 18% in 2012-13, according to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

In order to curb the trend, experts who assess higher education providers for the government’s university ratings system will be asked to look at the percentage of firsts and 2:1s awarded by each institution. If judged excessive, the university could be downgraded.

Universities are awarded a gold, silver or bronze within the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF), which rates universities annually based on a number of criteria including student experience and teaching quality.

TEF panellists, who are made up of academics, students and higher education experts, will be asked to look at grade inflation as an additional criteria when making their assessment of each university.

There will be no set targets but assessors will be asked to review the number of firsts and 2:1s each university has awarded over recent years and decide whether there has been unacceptable grade inflation. If so, the university might be downgraded from a gold to silver rating.

The measure will be trialled in a series of pilots in 50 institutions this year, before being formally included and used to inform university ratings in the summer of 2020. The government also confirmed that progress was being made on extending the TEF rating system to subject level so that individual subjects will be rated gold, silver or bronze.

The universities minister, Sam Gyimah, said: “When you look at what makes our universities so prestigious, it comes down to the value of our degrees. The value of those degrees is threatened by grade inflation and that is a problem for students, employers and the universities themselves.

“These new measures will look at how we can protect our globally recognised higher education system by discouraging universities from undermining the reverence a degree qualification from the UK commands.”

According to official figures released earlier this year, British universities have been handing out higher-class degrees at an unprecedented rate over the past decade, with at least one university issuing five times as many first-class degrees last year as it did a decade before.

In the 2006-7 academic year at the University of Wolverhampton 175 students (5% of the total) were awarded first-class degrees. In 2016-17, 973 students (28% of the total) were awarded firsts.

In contrast, at Warwick University the proportion of first-class degrees rose from 22% in 2006-7 to 27% a decade later and the proportion of 2:1s remained the same at 54%. Surrey University awarded firsts to 41% of its graduates last year, Oxford 33% and Cambridge 32%.

Many within the higher education sector blame pressure from league tables and from students, who want value for money as they leave university with huge debts after investing more than £9,000 in annual tuition fees.

Asked about grade inflation, a spokesperson for Universities UK said the sector had changed significantly in recent years, with universities putting more emphasis on the quality of teaching, alongside the fact that with higher fees students may be working harder to achieve higher grades.

The spokesperson added: “Universities UK is working with sector partners, including Guild HE, the QAA and the UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment, to gather evidence on what is behind the rise in degree outcomes. It is important to have evidence on what is legitimate improvement and to be able to identify those areas that present challenges.

“Based on evidence, we will propose measures to tackle any specific inflationary practices that appear to be undermining the integrity of the system. We will be publishing recommendations for consultation next month to make sure the public can continue to have confidence in the classification system.”