Key performance measure 3

One of our strategic goals is that students are rigorously assessed, and that the qualifications they are awarded are credible and comparable to those granted previously. Our strategy says that we will investigate where providers’ assessment and awarding practices may not meet our requirements and take action to address any issues.

If our approach to regulating assessment and awards is having the desired effect, providers that do not meet our minimum regulatory requirements for credible and comparable awards will be incentivised to do so. The substantial increase in the proportion of students achieving 1st class degrees since 2010-11, shown by KPM 3, should therefore slow, level off or reverse.

KPM 3 shows that the proportion of students awarded 1st class degrees in 2022-23 was 29.4 per cent. This proportion had increased every year between 2010-11 and 2020-21, when it peaked at 37.4 per cent. Since then, it has decreased for two successive years and now stands at a level similar to that in 2018-19.

During the coronavirus pandemic, many providers made changes to their assessment and awarding practices. This was to ensure that students were not disadvantaged by the impact of the pandemic. Providers did not adopt a single approach and the impact of these changes will have varied from provider to provider. It is not possible to determine the extent to which these actions contributed to the large increase in the proportion of students receiving 1st class degrees in 2019-20, or to the further increase in 2020-21.

We have further analysed the changes in the proportion of 1st class degrees awarded over the past decade. Our analysis of degree classifications over time considers the extent to which these changes can be accounted for by changes in the graduate population.

KPM 3 uses individualised student data from the Designated Data Body (DDB) student (Data Futures) record and the Individualised Learner Record from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). It is based on full-time undergraduate degree (first degree and degrees including a postgraduate component) graduates domiciled in the UK obtaining classified honours degrees from higher education providers in England.

Providers were required to submit 2022-23 DDB student data using a new data model and a new data platform, and the data collection encountered a number of delays. Consequently, additional risks for the quality of data were tolerated in some areas of the 2022-23 data returns. We are assessing the impacts of those additional risks for each OfS data output on a case-by-case basis. In general, we consider the data is fit for publication and for our regulatory purposes.

Following enhanced data quality checks, we have made a small change to the 2022-23 base population on which the proportions of 1st class degrees are calculated. This is due to the category ‘pass - degree awarded without honours following an honours course’ no longer being collected in the DDB student (Data Futures) record. Students qualifying with these awards in 2022-23 can therefore no longer be identified and have been excluded from the base population in this latest year.

As KPM 3 monitors how the awarding of 1st class degrees has changed over time, we have also removed such students from the denominator in all years before 2022-23 so that the time series is consistent. This approach aligns with that taken for the degree classifications over time analysis, as the statistical model it uses relies upon having a consistent time series. This definitional change means that the proportions awarded 1st class degrees have risen very slightly across the whole time series (by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points in each year compared with those in the last update of KPM 3).

Before 2020-21, all higher education providers in England for which the OfS holds data are included. For 2020-21 onwards we include only providers who were registered with the OfS at some point between 1 August and 31 July in each academic year. This means the number of providers included in each year will vary.

Download KPM 3 data as an Excel file (22.5 KB)