Student grades will be one of the key criteria universities will be measured against for the new national university rating system. This has led to concerns within the government that universities may be tempted to be generous when grading papers.
The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) will rate universities with gold, silver or bronze scores based on a number of criteria including their overall provision, student experience, teaching quality and whether courses are sufficiently stretching enough – the government is also piloting a subject-specific version of it.
The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) will rate universities with gold, silver or bronze scores based on a number of criteria including their overall provision, student experience, teaching quality and whether courses are sufficiently stretching enough – the government is also piloting a subject-specific version of it.
Announcing a second year of pilots to move subject-level TEF a step closer, Sam Gyimah, Minister of State (Universities and Science), has confirmed the new pilots will also look at grade inflation, with TEF panellists reviewing evidence to see whether universities are taking a responsible approach to degree grading and not awarding excessive numbers of firsts and 2:1s. It means a university’s provider-level rating of gold, silver or bronze will take their approach to tackling grade inflation into account.
Grade inflation will be an important feature of the criteria considered alongside how a university is stretching its students through course design and assessment, and through their ability to develop independence, knowledge and skills that reflect their full potential.
Grade inflation will be an important feature of the criteria considered alongside how a university is stretching its students through course design and assessment, and through their ability to develop independence, knowledge and skills that reflect their full potential.
This is one of the first measures taken by the government to tackle grade inflation, with the plans confirmed in the government’s response to the subject-level TEF consultation.
In the last five years alone, figures from the Higher Education Stats Authority show the proportion of graduates who gained a first-class degree has increased from 18% in 2012/13 to 26% in 2016/17.
Universities Minister Sam Gyimah said "When you look at what makes our universities so prestigious, it comes down to the value of our degrees – they open up a huge range of opportunities and the chance to step into a rewarding and highly-skilled career.
The value of those degrees is threatened by grade inflation and that is a problem for students, employers and the universities themselves. These new measures will look at how we can protect our globally recognised higher education system by discouraging universities from undermining the reverence a degree qualification from the UK commands."
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