We all know that gaining a good degree is important, perhaps more so now than ever. The increasingly consumerist approach by students might be enshrined in “what do I need to do to get a 2(i)?”, but in many cases this is also accompanied by a commitment to work that was perhaps less of a focus when I first studied. That might be also be attributable to the changing perceptions that students have of their higher education – seeing it as a transaction in which they engage to gain clearly defined outcomes, rather than the wider exploration that HE might have been considered to have been in some non-existent golden era.
A good degree is understood to be a benefit to the individual – it’s likely to help open doors in getting that first graduate job. It’s also beneficial for institutions for their students to be successful in this way: all university league tables include “good degrees” or some variant thereof in their analysis, and so the university that awards high numbers of good degrees can expect to reap the rewards in league table position. Of course there is also virtuous circle effect here – universities that are at the top of the tables may be the most selective, and able to recruit the students with the highest entry tariff scores in the anticipation that they will thrive. Other institutions will argue that they provide a greater amount of value added to students with lower entry grades.
In January, HESA published its first data release, which showed the range of degree classifications as follows:
72% of first degrees undertaken through full-time study in 2013/14 achieved first or upper second classifications compared to 54% of those undertaken through part-time study.
Now that more detailed data has become available through Hedi, then we can look to see how the different institutions perform on this measure – and whose outputs have changed significantly.
So here are the top 10 universities for awarding good degrees in 2013-14:
| Institution | 2013 % 1sts and 2(1)s | 2014 % 1sts and 2(1)s | difference |
| The University of Oxford | 92% | 92% | 0% |
| Conservatoire for Dance and Drama | 91% | 91% | 0% |
| Guildhall School of Music and Drama | 87% | 91% | 4% |
| Central School of Speech and Drama | 88% | 88% | 0% |
| The University of St Andrews | 88% | 88% | 0% |
| The University of Cambridge | 87% | 88% | 1% |
| University College London | 87% | 88% | 1% |
| Royal Academy of Music | 77% | 88% | 11% |
| Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine | 88% | 87% | -1% |
| University of Durham | 85% | 87% | 2% |
And at the other end of the results….
| Institution | 2013 % 1sts and 2(1)s | 2014 % 1sts and 2(1)s | difference |
| London Metropolitan University | 51% | 55% | 4% |
| University of Bedfordshire | 48% | 55% | 7% |
| The University of East London | 54% | 54% | 0% |
| Glynd?r University | 54% | 54% | 0% |
| University College Birmingham | 46% | 54% | 8% |
| University Campus Suffolk | 56% | 53% | -3% |
| University of Wales Trinity Saint David | 49% | 51% | 2% |
| SRUC | 44% | 51% | 7% |
| The University of Buckingham | 43% | 51% | 8% |
| The University of Sunderland | 54% | 50% | -4% |
For those of us who have an interest in league tables, then the interesting thing to look at will be those universities which have seen significant changes in the percentages of good degrees that they award. Hence we might look to see some league table gains (ceteris paribus) for the following:
| Institution | 2013 % 1sts and 2(1)s | 2014 % 1sts and 2(1)s | difference |
| Leeds Trinity University | 56% | 69% | 13% |
| Royal Agricultural University | 51% | 63% | 12% |
| Royal Academy of Music | 77% | 88% | 11% |
| Bournemouth University | 65% | 76% | 11% |
| Glasgow School of Art | 59% | 69% | 10% |
| The University of Wolverhampton | 50% | 59% | 9% |
noting that Wolverhampton doesn’t engage in league tables.
The biggest drops are for:
| Institution | 2013 % 1sts and 2(1)s | 2014 % 1sts and 2(1)s | difference |
| University Campus Suffolk | 56% | 53% | -3% |
| Writtle College | 52% | 49% | -3% |
| Heythrop College | 83% | 79% | -4% |
| Royal Conservatoire of Scotland | 79% | 75% | -4% |
| The University of Sunderland | 54% | 50% | -4% |
| The Royal Veterinary College | 75% | 66% | -9% |
| University of the Highlands and Islands | 71% | 58% | -13% |
As well as looking at the percentages of good degrees, with a little bit of Heidi magic we can look to see how various student characteristics have an impact on outcomes. A particular interest of mine is attainment of students from a BME background, and in considering how any attainment gap can be reduced. This will form the subject of a later post.