Key performance measure 7

One of our strategic goals is that students’ access, success and progression are not limited by their background, location or characteristics. If our interventions to meet this goal are having the desired effect, we would expect the differences between degree attainment rates for different groups to reduce.

We also have a strategic goal to ensure higher education awards are credible and comparable to those granted previously.

We recognise that some will see a tension between our overall goal to curb grade inflation and our goal of decreasing the differences between degree attainment rates for different ethnic groups. We are clear that providers should not reduce these differences simply by awarding more 1st class degrees to some groups of students, without ensuring that such awards properly reflect students’ knowledge and skills. This would not be consistent with our work to ensure awards are credible and comparable to those granted previously.

Instead, we expect the proportion of students gaining 1st class degrees to fall overall, while more black students gain the knowledge and skills to achieve a higher proportion of the 1sts awarded.

The substantial increase in the proportion of students achieving 1st class degrees since 2010-11, shown by KPM 3, should slow, level off and reverse.

At the same time, the proportion of students within ethnic groups receiving 1st class degrees, shown by KPM 7, should converge towards the proportion for all students.

KPM 7 shows that the proportion of white students receiving 1st class degrees in 2022-23 was 3.7 percentage points higher than the proportion for all students. For students in all other ethnic groups, the proportion who achieved first class degrees was lower than the proportion for all students.

The proportion of Asian students who achieved 1sts in 2022-23 was 6.7 percentage points lower than the proportion for all students. For students of mixed ethnicity, the proportion of 1sts was 1.3 percentage points lower than the proportion for all students in 2022-23. For those of other ethnicities the proportion was 7.0 percentage points lower.

The difference in degree attainment for black students was larger. The proportion of black students receiving 1st class degrees in 2022-23 was 15.0 percentage points lower than the proportion for all students.

KPM 7 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 identified an issue with the completeness of the 2022-23 DDB student (Data Futures) record regarding an elevated level of 'unknowns' in the ethnicity data field, which is used in KPM7. To mitigate this, wherever the ethnicity data field is missing in the 2022-23 data we have instead used known data from the same student from the 2021-22 student data return. However, when a student has reported their ethnicity as 'not known' or 'prefer not to say' we have not attempted to do this and have retained the ‘unknown’ value.

We have also made a small change to the 2022-23 base population on which the proportions of 1st class degrees are calculated. This is because the category ‘Pass - degree awarded without honours following an honours course’ is no longer 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. Proportions in years before 2022-23 have been calculated on the previous basis.

Before 2020-21, all higher education providers in England for which we hold 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.

Students are divided into broad ethnic groups: Asian, black, white, mixed, other. The proportion of graduates within each group who achieve a 1st is calculated. This is then compared to the proportion of all graduates who achieve a 1st.

Download KPM 7 data as an Excel file (24.9 KB)