02 Nov UK UNIVERSITIES WILL FACE GRADE INFLATION CRACKDOWN AMIDST RISING FIRST DEGREE AWARDS
One in four students at top universities now receive top honours according to the department of education.
With Grade inflation on the rise, does that mean that students don’t have to put in as much work and effort into a degree? Is it a marketing ploy for the university in welcoming more students and making it up the ranking chain?
The UK government has recently announced plans to “crack down” on grade inflation, after figures of universities awarding students First class degrees soared within a five-year period.
This decision came after a consultation, which took place in May of this year, revealed that Grade Inflation is an issue not just for the Government but for students and potential employers.
According to a BBC report, universities have given more than a third of their students first class degrees. The Guardian stated that the government has plans to crack down on grade inflation amid concerns that the growing number of first-class degrees being awarded to students are undermining their value.
But what is Grade inflation and why is it such a big deal?
Wikipedia describes this as the awarding of higher grades than a student deserves, which yields a higher average grade given to students for work that would receive lower grades
Economics Major, Judy Ross, who is currently studying at City University London in sharing her views on the topic, adds that “Grade inflation presents serious difficulties for employers who are faced with the challenge of differentiating between those whose qualifications and grades are backed up by actual learning and work output, and sometimes those grades can be deeply misleading”.
Another student, Alison Heath, a creative Arts and Industry student at the London Metropolitan University cited that Grade inflation undermines the delivery of quality education”
She adds that, “those grades would not be a correct representation of the students’ performance and so the educational standards would be diluted”.
According to an online blog, onlineuniversities on “why students should fear grade inflation”, “For students, grade inflation means never knowing where they really stand and not having to work as hard as possible to get there. This is a problem with our culture that demands instant gratification”.
“For faculty, grade inflation means not pushing students as hard or as far as they might and being beholden to those students for approval in an unending cycle of upward spiraling grades. This is the education insider argument: that if faculty are employees and students are customers who have paid for their education (and thus their grades) there is an issue with “customer satisfaction.” There is no leverage for professors to push students in this model”.
Both teachers and students grow less motivated to achieve since apparent success can be attained with less effort. If grade inflation is left unchecked for long enough, it is likely to seriously damage our international competitiveness and our economy.
Efforts made to speak to policy advisor Ella Thomas on the Governments stance on Grade Inflation proved futile, but in a release from her office, the education department states that Grade inflation is an important issue and the Government is committed to ensuring it is addressed so that students and employers can have confidence in the value of higher education degrees across the UK.
Work is currently being undertaken to investigate the causes of grade inflation and to identify and strengthen the sector’s arrangements to ensure the comparability of degree standards.
