RUTHFULLY YOURS

Universities appear locked in a race to the bottom as soaring numbers of students get top grades in their degree courses.

More than a quarter of students now get the highest classification, almost doubling in under a decade, according to new figures.

And an education watchdog has warned that much of the increase is unjustified, leading to fears that universities are lowering standards in an attempt to attract more students.

The proportion of students awarded first class honours – the highest possible – at English universities has risen from 16% in 2010/11 to 29% in 2017/18, according to new analysis by the independent Office for Students (OfS).

Much of the increase is unexplained by factors such as entrance qualifications or student characteristics, the OfS found, with 13.9% of the rise unaccounted for.

The pattern was also widespread across universities, with 94% of 148 higher education providers having a statistically significant unexplained increase in the proportion of students awarded first class degrees.

The obvious explanation is that universities are using the likelihood of achieving a first class degree as an incentive to encourage students to apply.

And in some ways this is the inevitable result of a policy to introduce and then increase tuition fees for students in England, creating a more transactional attitude to higher education where students want to know what they’re going to get for their investment.

In 2011, the year before tuition fees trebled to £9,000 ($11,300), 67% of students were awarded a first or upper second class degree, the next highest classification, while 79% did so in 2018.

With students now paying up to £9,250 ($13,000) a year in fees, many have become more discerning about where they apply, and for some the prospect of achieving a first class degree has a huge appeal.

But this incentivizes universities to lower standards, allowing students who would not have previously made the grade to get a first class degree.

While universities have always been in competition, the introduction of fees has made it more of a buyers’ market for all but the most selective institutions.

Even so, some of the U.K.’s most prestigious universities are among those to see the largest increases in first class honours. At Imperial College London, for example, the number of students getting a first class degree rose from 31% to 46% over the period, at University College London from 24% to 40% and at Durham University from 18% to 38%.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said grade inflation undermined the achievement of students in previous years and warned that commitments to tackle grade inflation must now be followed by action.

Susan Lapworth, director of competition and registration at the OfS, said universities had to be clear about how they ensured that they applied consistent standards.

The OfS would be contacting universities with the largest unexplained increases to ask them to account for the rise, she said.

“Worries about grade inflation threaten to devalue a university education in the eyes of employers and potential students,” she added. “So it is essential we regain and maintain public confidence in the reliability of degree classifications.”