UK Edition
University grade inflation warning as number of students obtaining first class degrees triples in less than two decades
The proportion of students leaving university with top honours has reached record levels in the last five years, sparking fresh debate over the current degree classification system.
Last year, more than 104,000 students - or one in four - graduated with a top degree classification, a five-fold increase on the number graduating with a First in 1999.
The figures, which cover UK universities and colleges, will fuelled calls to reform the current system amid concern over grade inflation, which employers say is making it increasingly difficult to select the best candidates for graduate roles.
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), said the situation needs close monitoring.
"There are valid questions about whether growing competition between universities is encouraging grade inflation and also whether the external examiner system is fit for purpose in every respect," he said.
"After all, it is in no-one's interests - not government, employers or universities - for people to think students are having an easier ride than in the past.”
As the number of students obtaining top degrees has increased annually - with three in four students now graduating with a 2:1 or better - a growing number of employes have refocused their selection criteria to focus on work experience over academics qualifications.
In 2015, professional services firm Ernst and Young announced it would remove academic and education details, including degree classifications, for job applications, while publishing firm Penguin Random House UK recently confirmed it would make similar changes to its recruitment policy.
Commenting on the trend, graduate recruitment expert Martin Birchall, of High Fliers Research, said some employers are no longer using a "blunt cut-off" of degree classification, adding that many are keen to move away from academic attainment in a bid to increase diversity quotas.
"It's very hard to understand why more and more students are getting these top grades.
"Degrees are not benchmarked as a national standard, so there is no way of telling whether individual universities are becoming more generous in the degrees they are awarding or whether standards are genuinely rising."
"A number of employers have realised that if they use a blunt cut-off such as a 2:1 or above, they're missing out on some great people, so degree classification has become less important."