{"id":44319,"date":"2018-07-02T12:41:57","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T19:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=44319"},"modified":"2018-07-02T12:41:57","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T19:41:57","slug":"using-more-rigorous-external-examiners-would-help-rein-in-grade-inflation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/using-more-rigorous-external-examiners-would-help-rein-in-grade-inflation\/","title":{"rendered":"Using more rigorous external examiners would help rein in grade inflation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nIn 1995,\u00a08 per cent of students\u00a0left university<\/a>\u00a0with a first-class honours degree. By 2013, the figure had risen to 18 per cent, and last year the figure rose again: an astonishing 26 per cent of students now leave with firsts, more than end up with lower-seconds. Some universities seem to have\u00a0abandoned<\/a>\u00a0all sense of proportion: last year Imperial College London awarded firsts to 45 per cent of students, while the figure for the University of Surrey was 44 per cent. No one seriously believes that this is because the calibre of graduating students is improving. It is, unfortunately, an inevitable consequence of a market-driven higher education system, in which universities compete with each other to attract the best students, and in which students rely on league tables and rankings to make their choices.<\/p>\n

Last summer, the then higher education minister Jo Johnson\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0a crackdown on grade inflation, saying it would be a priority for the new Office for Students. Universities UK has now\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0that it intends to tackle the problem, in collaboration with the Quality Assurance Agency, GuildHE and the UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment.<\/p>\n

The first part of its work will be to clarify how the sector defines degree classifications. Universities UK intends to produce a reference document by September that will \u201caid the transparency and consistency of approaches to degree classification and standards across the sector\u201d.<\/p>\n

UUK\u00a0discusses the need to distinguish between grade inflation and genuine improvement in student performance. It\u00a0suggests two ways of striking a balance between inflation and recognising improvement:\u00a0one is\u00a0\u201cto adjust standards to keep up with increasingly successful students in a way that is transparent and consistent, either through criteria or quotas\u201d. The other, it says, \u201cis to find more headroom in the classification structure, either by reinvigorating the 2:2 and third classifications in the eyes of employers or bringing in a new classification above the first\u201d.<\/p>\n

Neither of these options\u00a0are workable. The idea of applying quotas across subjects and institutions is clearly unfair and will inevitably be resisted by vice-chancellors, academics and students. Similarly, the notion that it\u2019s possible to apply fixed criteria to institutions with wildly differencing histories, priorities and student intake is fanciful. Degrees are not like A-levels: institutions cherish their independence and their ability to set their own curriculum and assessment methods. As for persuading the employers of the value of 2:2s or thirds, well, good luck with that.<\/p>\n

Bringing in a new classification above the first simply kicks the problem further into the future, where no doubt we will see complaints that more and more students are achieving starred firsts (or whichever new classification is introduced).<\/p>\n

In a market-driven system, is a solution possible? We need universities themselves to recognise that there is a problem. The greatest difficulty facing the grading system is that the role of the\u00a0external examiner<\/a>\u00a0has been diminished: it is hard to recruit well-qualified candidates because it is such a frustrating, time-consuming role without obvious rewards in terms of career advancement.<\/p>\n

In 1997, the\u00a0Dearing Report<\/a>\u00a0recommended the creation of a UK-wide pool of academic staff from which universities should select external examiners \u2013 an idea that was\u00a0revived<\/a>\u00a0in 2009 by parliament\u2019s Innovation, Universities and Skills Select Committee. The committee also recommended that external examiners should have access to a national remit that would document, for example, the extent to which they could amend marks. These recommendations have never been acted on, with the result that universities make their own, vastly differing arrangements for external examiners.<\/p>\n

The creation of such a pool, with an agreed remit, would at least be a step in the right direction, enabling external examiners to rein in the extremes of grade inflation while also imposing some degree of comparability across universities.<\/p>\n

The relentless drive towards marketisation of higher education, with universities engaged in battle to attract students, has led inevitably to unsustainable grade inflation. Introducing quotas or tinkering with classifications is not going to address that. We should not pretend that a first-class degree has the same value, independent of the institution that awards it. We can, however, introduce more rigour into the system through the creation of a pool of examiners and a clear remit that they should adhere to.<\/p>\n

Author Bio: <\/strong>Tim Horder is emeritus fellow at Jesus College, University of Oxford, and a member of the Council for the Defence of British Universities executive committee. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1995,\u00a08 per cent of students\u00a0left university\u00a0with a first-class honours degree. By 2013, the figure had risen to 18 per cent, and last year the figure rose again: an astonishing 26 per cent of students now leave with firsts, more than end up with lower-seconds. Some universities seem to have\u00a0abandoned\u00a0all sense of proportion: last year […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":44320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[12086],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-44319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-grade-inflation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUsing more rigorous external examiners would help rein in grade inflation - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/using-more-rigorous-external-examiners-would-help-rein-in-grade-inflation\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Using more rigorous external examiners would help rein in grade inflation - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1995,\u00a08 per cent of students\u00a0left university\u00a0with a first-class honours degree. 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