This week it emerged that the State’s education watchdog is to investigate the factors behind grade inflation in higher education institutions in light of a 50 per cent increase in the proportion of first-class honours awarded since 2015. In 2022, more than a quarter of all students in higher education graduated with a first-class honours degree, up 16 per cent for the class of 2015, according to official data. This upward trend has led some academics and employers to warn that the high volume of top third-level degrees is making it difficult to differentiate between high-achieving students.
There is nothing new about grade inflation. The proportion of students gaining first-class honours has been climbing steadily over the past two decades or more. What is striking is the pace at which the number of high-achieving students jumped during the pandemic. This is doubtless because students were given every chance to have their achievements recognised. These temporary policies may have been appropriate at the time. But if universities do not now return to a more normal pattern of achievement, they risk undermining the value of and confidence in degrees.
Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), the State agency responsible for the quality assurance of higher education in Ireland, is to establish a forum to bring together universities to “better understand the trends, consider the causes and effects of grade inflation, and address any emerging issues”. It is also examining the role assessment approaches and practice can play in these issues.
Colleges will need to ask themselves some hard questions: are there really rising standards to justify higher grades? Or is there pressure to report continually higher levels of achievement? Is a lower level of grades politically acceptable?
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Hard-working students deserve to know that earning a first-class honour really counts and that it carries weight with employers who, in turn, should be able to trust in the high value and rigorous assessment of university courses. Exam grades are supposed to be a marker for achievement -- but grade inflation misleads everyone.