UNIVERSITY GRADES AN 'IRISH TIMES' SURVEY:Which universities award the most first-class degrees and which are tougher? Are some colleges 'easier' than others?
COULD YOUR CHOICE of college influence your chance of graduating with a top degree? The question has become critical for many students, with employers increasingly demanding a 2:1 degree or higher before they will consider a job application.
An analysis of degree awards in the seven Irish universities since 2005 shows huge variations in the proportions of students receiving top degrees. Students who attend Trinity College, for example, are far more likely to graduate with a 2:1 than those who choose University of Limerick.
Between 2005 and 2010, 14 per cent of university undergraduates achieved a first-class honours degree. The research also shows that 43 per cent managed a 2:1 while 23 per cent got a 2:2 degree. Overall, 85 per cent of graduates received an honours degree from Irish universities.
Within these figures, however, there was huge variation between colleges. DCU had the highest first-class honours rate, at 18 per cent, while UCD awarded the lowest proportion, at just 11 per cent.
The biggest fluctuations occurred in the 2:1 category, with 53 per cent of TCD graduates making the grade – that’s 8 per cent above the national average. By contrast, UL’s 2:1 rate is 34 per cent, 9 per cent below the national average and 19 per cent below TCD.
Most universities hovered at 20-25 per cent when it came to the proportion of 2:2s awarded. UL and NUI Maynooth, however, were well above the national average of 24 per cent, with 32 per cent of the graduates from each institution gaining a 2:2.
At the lower end of the scale, classifications get trickier, as every institution has its own way of recording the information. A third class or a pass degree is usually categorised as any score of 40-50 per cent. Medical students need 50 per cent to pass, however, so their threshold is higher than the norm.
Overall, 11 per cent of students gained a pass degree over between 2005 and 2010. NUI Galway’s rate was by far the highest, with 21 per cent of students gaining a third-class or a pass degree. At NUI Maynooth, by contrast, a mere 4 per cent were awarded a pass degree.
Students may not have been awarded degrees for a number of reasons: failure, deferral, partial failure, withdrawal. Again, every institute counts these differently, but, overall, about 5 per cent of students over the period were not awarded degrees. This figure was 7 per cent at DCU and 8 per cent at NUI Maynooth, while just 3 per cent of UCC students did not receive a degree between 2005 and 2010.
Dublin City University
DCU has awarded the largest proportion of first-class honours degrees, with 18 per cent of its graduating students gaining top results between 2005 and 2010. This figure is somewhat influenced by the fact that in 2005 24 per cent of students graduated with a first – a much higher proportion than any other university cohort that year. Since then, first-class honours have fallen back in line with the rates at other universities.
The proportion of upper second-class honours over the years is 43 per cent, in line with other institutions. Nonetheless, a closer examination reveals a significant fluctuation between the percentages of 2:1s awarded to students over the years. Thirty-five per cent of students were awarded a 2:1 in 2005, compared with 51 per cent in 2009.
Overall, 84 per cent of students who graduated from DCU between 2005 and 2010 gained an honours degree; this is 4 per cent above the national average of 80 per cent. Nine per cent of students were awarded a pass degree while 7 per cent were not awarded a degree.
NUI Galway
NUI Galway is one of the harder markers when it comes to graduating degrees. Just 13 per cent of its students were awarded first-class honours – one of the the lowest proportions of all. There hasn’t been much fluctuation over the period. Firsts peaked in 2007 at 15 per cent and fell to 11 per cent in 2010.
Upper second-class honours degrees have remained consistent, hovering at about 40 per cent each year; 2008 was the year with the highest proportion (44 per cent); 38 per cent of students graduated with a 2:1 in 2010.
Overall, 74 per cent of students graduated from NUI Galway with an honours degree over the time period. This is a bit below the national average of 80 per cent. A relatively high 21 per cent of students received pass degrees, while the rest were not awarded a degree.
NUI Maynooth
Another tough marker at the upper end of the scale, NUI Maynooth awarded just 14 per cent of its students a first. That figure has fallen gradually from a high of 17 per cent in 2005. Thirteen per cent managed the top grade in 2010.
Forty-two per cent of students graduated with an upper second-class honours degree, and 32 per cent graduated lower seconds – one of the highest proportions of 2:2s. Upper seconds peaked in 2006, at 48 per cent, before dropping again. The proportion of 2.1s in 2010 was 39 per cent. Lower second-class honours have risen over the years, from 27 per cent in 2005 to 36 per cent in 2010.
Despite the low proportion of first-class honours, overall a high proportion of Maynooth students graduated with an honours degree – a well above average 88 per cent managed to do so between 2005 and 2010. Just 4 per cent of students were awarded a pass degree; 8 per cent failed to graduate.
Trinity College Dublin
Eighty-nine per cent of Trinity College graduates gained an honours degree between the years 2005 and 2010. This is well above the national average of 80 per cent.
Upper second-class honours were attained by 53 per cent of graduates. This is by far the highest proportion of 2:1s awarded – 19 per cent higher than the proportion awarded at UL, for example, and 10 per cent more than that at DCU. In 2005, a remarkable 59 per cent were awarded a 2:1. In 2006, that figure dropped to 51 per cent, slowly rising to 54 per cent by 2010.
Sixteen per cent of students received a first-class honours degree, which is close to the national average. This figure hasn’t fluctuated too much. There was a slight spike in 2009, when 18 per cent of students achieved a first, but it came back to 16 per cent the following year. A fifth of students graduated with a 2:2. Five per cent of students passed; a degree was not awarded to the remaining 4 per cent.
University College Cork
Consistency is the key when looking at UCC’s awards. Seventeen per cent of students received a first-class honours degree between 2005 and 2010 – that was the percentage of firsts awarded in most years. There was a slight deviation from the norm in 2005, when 18 per cent attained the top grade, but this didn’t affect the overall average.
There was a bit more of a variation in 2:1 grades. Fifty one per cent of students graduated with a 2:1 in the time period. That peaked in 2006 and 2008, when 53 per cent were awarded a 2:1. Last year’s cohort gained the lowest proportion of 2:1s: 48 per cent.
Twenty-two per cent of students graduated with a 2:2. Again, the figure doesn’t change much, and it peaked at 24 per cent last year. Passes and third-class honours made up 6 per cent of the graduates; 3 per cent of students did not receive a degree.
University College Dublin
Ireland’s biggest university has the least comparable figures. As you can see from the table below, until 2007 a significant proportion of students were classed simply as double-grade awards.
This classification was for students who studied double-honours degrees and gained a different grade in each honour. Therefore they did not have an overall grade, as such. This issue skews UCD’s overall figures.
Looking at the figures from the latter three years, however, an average of 11 per cent of students received first-class honours degrees. This is in keeping with the university’s average over the six years.
Thirty-seven per cent of students graduated with a 2:1 over the six years. A more accurate measure of 2:1s awarded would be the final three years, where, on average, 47 per cent of students were awarded a 2:1. Last year, 49 per cent of students made the grade. The figures are above the national average.
Just over a fifth (21 per cent) of UCD graduates gained a 2:2. Last year, 29 per cent of students graduated with a 2:2.
Eleven per cent of students received a pass degree; the remaining 4 per cent were not awarded a degree.
University of Limerick
Judging by its award rate over the time period, UL is one of the most difficult universities from which to gain a high honours degree. Fourteen per cent of its graduates gained first-class honours, while 34 per cent achieved a 2:1. This 2:1 rate is by far the lowest in the country, a full 19 per cent behind the highest, which is TCD, and 9 per cent below the national average.
The proportion of students receiving 2:2 degrees is well above the national average, by contrast, at 32 per cent. The high proportion of 2:2s means that UL’s honours rate is 80 per cent overall. Fourteen per cent of students were awarded pass degrees; the remaining 6 per cent did not receive degrees.
