Kings College chapel, Cambridge: Image via Wikipedia
It used to be that being awarded a First Class Honours or an Upper Second (2:1) degree in the UK carried some weight since they were “awarded sparingly to students who showed exceptional depth of knowledge and originality”. But this no longer holds. The race for students and the use of league tables to “grade” universities has led to standards being deliberately diluted to improve the statistics. But the result is that in many universities where in 1970 less than 20% of students could expect a First or an Upper Second in 1970, today over 60% can expect such an award.
But I expect it will have a backlash. A key statistic emerging to define a “good” university will soon be the difficulty to be awarded a First and not the number of Firsts awarded. Just as in the US where one statistic defining the “goodness” of a University is now the difficulty to gain entrance. In Japan the difficulty to get into Tokyo University is what maintains its pre-eminence (though it is also alleged that once you get into Tokyo University you don’t need to do any more since your degree and your career are assured!).
The Telegraph carries the story of the “dumbing down” of UK degrees.
The results for last summer’s graduates, due to be published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency later this month, will increase pressure for reform of the degree grading system in Britain, which an official inquiry has already condemned as “not fit for purpose”.
The latest data shows that the criteria for awarding degrees has changed dramatically – despite complaints from many universities that grade inflation at A-level has made it hard for them to select candidates. Traditionally, first class honours have been awarded sparingly to students who show exceptional depth of knowledge and originality. But the new figures add further weight to a report by MPs last year which found that “inconsistency in standards is rife” and accused vice-chancellors of “defensive complacency”.
Prof Alan Smithers, director of Buckingham University’s centre for education and employment research, and a long-standing critic of falling standards, said: “There has been the most extraordinary grade inflation. As the system has expanded and a wider ability range has taken degree courses, the universities have altered their standards. Institutions are under pressure to improve their place in league tables and also need good results to compete for research grants. Giving university status to the polytechnics, some of which are very good, freed them to award their own degrees and they have exercised that freedom to award high degrees to relatively poorly-qualified entrants.”
Source article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8235115/Dumbing-down-of-university-grades-revealed.html
Tags: British undergraduate degree classification, downgrading of UK degrees, Grade inflation, University league tables
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