First-class degrees more than double in a decadeon May 12, 2022 at 11:15 am

The proportion of students in England awarded first-class degrees has more than doubled in a decade, the university watchdog says.

About 36% of students were awarded the top grade in 2019-20 and 38% in 2020-21, according to the Office for Students (OfS) analysis.

In 2010-11, it was just under 16%.

OfS boss Susan Lapworth said the pandemic “cannot be used as an excuse to allow a decade of unexplained grade inflation to be baked into the system”.

Following demands from students, universities introduced “no detriment” policies to protect grades from being adversely affected when teaching moved online.

Average grades from previous years were used as benchmarks for assessments, for example.

The OfS said about half of first-class degrees awarded to students in 2020-21 were “unexplained” – which means they cannot be accounted for by differences in graduates from year to year, such as their A-level grades.

It is the first time this kind of analysis from the OfS has been published since 2020, so the report takes in data from both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years.

OfS interim chief executive Ms Lapworth said : “There are a variety of reasons – including improved teaching and learning – that could lead to an increase in the rate of firsts awarded.

“However, the sustained increase in unexplained firsts awarded continues to pose regulatory concerns for the OfS.”

And the OfS would “investigate these issues”.