First-class degrees double in a decade amid 'dumbing down' claims

A record one in eight university students is awarded a first- class degree, figures revealed yesterday.

Thirteen per cent receive the highest grade possible - nearly twice as many as a decade ago.

The boom in firsts will fuel fears that the university honours system has been devalued by 'grade inflation' and increase pressure for it to be reformed.

A Government-backed inquiry concluded last year that the 200-year-old system was not fit for purpose but did not recommend replacing it.

The statistics also show how women are closing the gap on men.

Although men gain more firsts, women's success rates in achieving the highest accolade are increasing more quickly.

The figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show 36,645 firsts were awarded last year, up 1 per cent on 2006.

Nearly half of students - 48 per cent - achieved a 2.1, again up 1 per cent on 2006. In 1997, 7.5 per cent of students achieved firsts and 44 per cent gained 2.1s.

First-class degrees have traditionally been reserved for students who showed an exceptional breadth of original work.

But some institutions now hand firsts to a third of students.

Ten per cent of universities give out firsts to a fifth of students while, at the other end of the scale, some bestow the honour on only 4 per cent.

Separate research suggests elite institutions are increasing their haul of firsts and 2.1s faster than less prestigious rivals.

An eight-year analysis by Professor Mantz Yorke, a visiting professor of education at Lancaster University, revealed a widening gap in degree achievement at the Russell Group of 20 elite universities compared with former polytechnics.

Plans for students to be issued with a detailed transcript of marks were published last year after a three-year review.

The Higher Education Achievement Record could show overall percentage scores and is intended to become the main way to grade students by 2010.

But the review, headed by Professor Bob Burgess, of Leicester University, said the existing honours classifications would run alongside the new transcripts, at least in the first few years, before hopefully becoming "obsolete".

His report also condemned as "unhealthy and damaging" the widely-held view that it is essential for students to achieve at least a 2.1 to get a good job.

The conclusions followed a report from the Quality Assurance Agency which found degree grades were becoming virtually meaningless.

It warned top graduates could be missing out on jobs because rival candidates were marked too generously.

Yesterday's figures also confirm a downturn in enrolments to university last year after £3,000-a-year tuition fees were imposed.

Enrolments dipped in England and Northern Ireland, where top-up fees had been introduced, but rose in Scotland and Wales, where they had not.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: "Anyone who really believes that charging more for degrees is the way to encourage students to apply to university is living in a dream world."

But Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell said that while the numbers of entrants had decreased in 2006/7 after the introduction of the fees, they rose by 6 per cent in 2007/8.

One in five university graduates - 125,595 - comes from outside Britain, the figures show.

The number of students from the ten new EU members has soared by more than 200 per cent since they joined in 2004.

Meanwhile, enrolments from outside the EU have leapt more than 10 per cent in a year.