Due to “sharp rises” in top degrees, three higher education institutions might be subject to £500,000 in penalties.
On English college campuses, the Office for Students (OfS) has opened the first-ever inquiry into grade inflation and the “credibility” of prizes.
The agency has found three unidentified universities and institutions with “possible problems” that “need additional inspection.”
It comes in response to an OfS analysis from May that issued a caution that more than half of first-class degrees cannot be justified when compared to student performance ten years earlier.
It was discovered that the percentage of graduates in England earning a first has more than doubled, rising from 15.7% in 2010–11 to 37.9% in 2020–21.
According to a May OfS analysis, more than half of first-class degrees cannot be justified by student performance ten years ago.
Overall, 84.4% of students earned a first- or upper-second-class (2:1) honors degree, up from 67% 10 years previously. If the OfS believes there has been a violation of the “conditions of registration,” it is legally empowered to take enforcement action.
It may, among other things, levy fines of up to £500,000 or limit access to financing. Institutions should “issue credentials that are credible compared to those given before,” the OfS said in a statement.
“Grades should not be inflated,” it said, “so that the same level of student accomplishment is recognized with higher degree categories.”
Regardless of their A-level scores, all students have seen an increase in the percentages of first-class honours, according to the OfS.
Even the average first-time pass percentage for students who entered with three Ds or less has increased more than fivefold, from 5.3% to 28.5%.
The head of the University of Buckingham’s Centre for Education and Employment Research, Professor Alan Smithers, welcomed the OfS probe.
Regardless of their A-level scores, the Office for Students discovered that the percentages of first-class awards had increased for all students.
It’s a really good thing, he continued, since the number of first-class honors degrees issued in recent years has significantly reduced the worth of the degree.
“Clearly, it was a purposeful action to attract students since they want to earn high degrees, but in doing so, the currency was devalued,” said one observer.
The investigation “reflects the greater concern in society about grade inflation, at GCSE, A-level, and now degree level,” according to Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute.