Memorandum 11
Submission from Professor Mantz Yorke[16]
Changes over time in the proportion of "good
honours degrees" awarded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
MEMORANDUM
1. The establishment of the Higher Education
Statistics Agency [HESA] has made possible analyses of bachelor's
degree classifications awarded since the academic year 1994-95.
The recording of award data was subjected to a break at the beginning
of the academic year 2002-03 when a new system of classifying
academic subjects was implemented.
2. A summary of the analyses is presented below,
and greater detail can be found in the annexed paper[17].
Data from Scottish institutions have been excluded from the analyses
because of the different approach adopted in Scotland to the award
of honours. Bachelor's degrees in Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary
Science are typically awarded on a non-honours basis and are also
excluded.
3. Analyses of this type are important, since
they can add some light to the heat engendered by assertions of
"grade inflation".
4. The analyses for the period 1994-2002 showed
that the percentage of "good honours degrees" (ie first
and upper second class honours degrees, combined) tended to rise
in almost all subject areas. When the award data were disaggregated
by institutional type, the rises were most apparent in the elite
"Russell Group" universities.
5. Similar analyses for the period 2002-2007
showed that there was still a general tendency for the percentage
of "good honours degrees" to rise, but that the strongest
rises were scattered more evenly throughout institutional types.
6. There are many possible reasons for the
observed changes. Amongst those likely to influence an upward
movement in classifications are:
— Improvements in teaching
— Greater student diligence
— Curricula being expressed in terms of
specific learning outcomes which give students a clear indication
of what they need to achieve
— Students being "strategic"
about curricular choices
— Developments in assessment methods
— Changes in the way that classifications
are determined
— The significance for institutions of
"league tables".
Classifications may be influenced downwards by:
— Student part-time employment
— The distraction from teaching of other
demands on academics' time.
The following might also be influential, but it is
unclear what their effects might be:
— Changes in institutions' student entry
profiles
— Changes in the portfolios of subjects
offered by institutions.
7. Since the honours degree classification
is likely to remain for the foreseeable future (even if greater
attention is given to the Diploma Supplement and the Higher Education
Achievement Report), there is a need for the higher education
sector to have a greater appreciation of the probable effect of
the various influences on the classification process. This would
best be achieved through investigations in a number of subject
disciplines selected as broadly representative of sectoral provision.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that a study be undertaken
of the influences upon the classification of honours degrees,
and that this be undertaken in a representative range of subject
disciplines. The Subject Centres of the Higher Education Academy
could be the focal points for this work.
January 2009
16 Lancaster University. Back
17
This paper is to be presented on 9 December 2008 at the conference
of the Society for Research into Higher Education held in Liverpool. Back
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