{"id":144185,"date":"2018-06-21T06:51:29","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T06:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/too-many-firsts-risk-universities-credibility-says-think-tank\/"},"modified":"2018-06-21T06:51:29","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T06:51:29","slug":"too-many-firsts-risk-universities-credibility-says-think-tank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/too-many-firsts-risk-universities-credibility-says-think-tank\/","title":{"rendered":"Too many firsts risk universities&#8217; credibility, says think tank"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>                                  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"University exam\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/6FEC\/production\/_102125682_8dd704c5-df77-4400-ba21-b941a7f3b4b1.jpg\"\/>Image copyright                  EPA                                                    <\/figure>\n<p class=\"caps\">Universities risk losing their credibility due to &quot;rocketing&quot; grade inflation, a think tank has said.<\/p>\n<p>According to Reform, the proportion of firsts awarded almost doubled between 1997-2009 and rose by 26% since 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Their report calls for national tests to set degree grade benchmarks meaning only the top 10% of students could be awarded firsts. <\/p>\n<p>Education Secretary Damian Hinds said universities needed to act to protect the value of degrees. <\/p>\n<p>Under Reform&#039;s proposals, universities would lose their ability to decide what their students should be awarded.<\/p>\n<p>University leaders have argued a standardised approach would threaten their independence. <\/p>\n<h2>Grade inflation?<\/h2>\n<p>The centre-right think-tank Reform argues that more and more students are being awarded top grades.<\/p>\n<p>Its report says:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Last year more than 40% of students at the University of Surrey graduated with a first class degree.<\/li>\n<li>Since 1995 the proportion of 2:1 degrees rose from 40% to 49%<\/li>\n<li>75% of students achieve one of the top two classifications, compared with 47% in the mid-1990s<\/li>\n<li>In more than 50 universities the proportion of first class degrees has doubled since 2010<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Universities currently make their own decisions about grades and the report suggested pressure placed on academics by senior managers could partly explain why more top degrees are being awarded.<\/p>\n<p>The report also said &quot;degree algorithms&quot; which translate the student&#039;s marks into their final grade classification were to blame. <\/p>\n<p>Under Reform&#039;s proposals final-year students would sit new, national assessments set by a &quot;designated assessment body&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>The results from the assessments would determine how many students should be awarded a particular grade. <\/p>\n<p>The top 10% of students would receive a first, the next 40% a 2:1, and the 40% after that a 2:2. The bottom 10% would get a third.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  EPA                                                    <\/figure>\n<p>Report author Tom Richmond and former adviser to education secretary Michael Gove, said: &quot;Rocketing degree grade inflation is in no one&#039;s interest.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Universities may think easier degrees are a way to attract students, but eventually they will lose currency and students will go elsewhere, even overseas.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Restoring the currency of degrees would also mean better value for money for the \u00a318 billion that universities receive each year in tuition fees,&quot; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Education Secretary Damian Hinds said: &quot;Students across the country work hard for their results and they deserve  grading system that recognises their hard work. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;That is why this government has put an end to grade inflation in GCSEs and A-levels, and why it is time for universities to do the same.&quot;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright EPA Universities risk losing their credibility due to &quot;rocketing&quot; grade inflation, a think tank has said. According to Reform, the proportion of firsts awarded almost doubled between 1997-2009<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}