Why a degree is no sign of knowledge, by top professor

University degrees are no longer a serious test of knowledge or intelligence because they have been dumbed down, according to a top historian.

Professor Kevin Sharpe said courses now require students to 'stay the distance' instead of demonstrating intellectual flair.

The demise of final exams meant undergraduates could gain top degrees by completing bite-size study modules and coursework.

The professor, who specialises in Renaissance studies at Queen Mary, University of London, said he doubts whether degrees are still 'fit for purpose'.

His outburst in the Times Higher Education magazine follows a series of attacks on the degree classification system, after the proportion of first-class degrees awarded doubled in a decade.

But Professor Sharpe said: 'It is not that the examining and classification system has failed.

'The problem is worse: it is that our degrees have profoundly changed and are no longer in any sense a serious test of knowledge, intelligence or critical ability.'

He said students to have to display an overall grasp of a discipline and the ability to relate topics within it together.

'Now what we ask is that students simply stay the distance and perform competently a number of discrete tasks - without any need to relate or connect them.'