Bristol one of many universities accused of grade inflation

The Financial Times (FT) has reported that since 2010/11, there has been an unexplained rise in the number of first-class degrees awarded by top universities, including the University of Bristol.

Although Bristol is not amongst the worst offenders, the Office for Students (OfS), which the Financial Times cites in their article, reports that 31.3 per cent of students graduated with a first in 2023/4. This is a significant increase on the 23.7 per cent that left Bristol with a first in the 2010/11 academic year.

Based on the OfS data, The Financial Times has tracked the change in unexplained attainment of first-class degrees since 2010/11, and scored universities from 1-10, with those with the least inflation scoring at the lower end. The University of Bristol was scored at 4.5, placing it slightly ahead of most universities that scored between 2 and 4.

At the upper end of the scale, were Imperial College London, The University of Durham and The University of East London, with scores of 7.63, 9.73 and 9.97, respectively.

The FT reported that university grades have increased more than what could be explained by student qualifications such as A-levels and other factors. They echoed the OfS call for universities to do more to maintain standards.

Whilst regulators do believe that better teaching and other improvements could explain a small fraction of the increase, the OfS holds that only 17.7 per cent of universities students should have graduated with firsts in 2023/4.

All universities tracked by the OfS, bar four, are awarding more firsts than in 2010, including Oxford and Cambridge.

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In a statement given to The Tab, Professor Tansy Jessop, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students at the University of Bristol, said: “Like the rest of the higher education sector, Bristol has seen an upwards trend in the proportion of students getting top degrees.

“A number of factors can explain this trend, such as changing student motivations and diligence towards their studies, enhancements in teaching and learning practices, and improvements in academic support for students.

“Degree attainment at Bristol is an important issue and one we closely monitor to assure the value of our degrees. We have robust measures in place to assure the quality of our degrees. This includes oversight from external examiners, who are members of academic staff from other universities, appointed to each course to ensure that quality and standards of the awards we make are appropriate.

The university pointed out that each year they publish Degree Outcomes Statement , and “work closely with Bristol SU to make marking processes transparent to all students, with a video explainer coming out shortly which demonstrates our rigorous step-by-step marking processes.”

They continued that the percentage of first-class degrees awarded by Bristol University trends in line with those awarded at other universities: “The trend of increasing first-class degrees awarded to undergraduates at Bristol reflects a common trend within higher education.

During the pandemic, ‘no detriment’ policies increased the number of good degrees awarded (firsts and 2:1s) because most universities sought to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. Degree-awarding patterns post-pandemic have returned to normal, with a reduction in the number of firsts awarded. In addition, while absolute percentages of firsts have risen from 24% (2010/11) to 31% (2023/24) at Bristol, we have gradually closed the gap between Bristol firsts and the sector from 8% in 2010/11, to 2% in 2023/24.

The most recent OfS analysis of ‘unexplained attainment’ for first-class honours degrees demonstrates that Bristol is at the low end of unexplained firsts (ranked 132nd out of 142 providers), evidencing that we are very low on unexplained first-class degrees at Bristol compared to the sector.

Reports of grade inflation are not a new phenomenon, especially so in a post-COVID world; however, the OfS report calls into question the value of first-class degrees, at a time when the utility of university education is under ever-increasing scrutiny.