Susan Lapworth has responded to new proposals on tackling grade inflation, which have been covered by various news outlets.
Responding to new proposals on tackling grade inflation published today by Universities UK and GuildHE on behalf of the UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment, Susan Lapworth, Director of Competition and Registration at the Office for Students (OfS), said:
'All universities and colleges registered with the OfS need to ensure that qualifications awarded to students hold their value at the point of qualification and over time, in line with sector recognised standards. It is for individual universities and colleges to decide how to meet this and other requirements, and the OfS welcomes actions taken by the sector as a whole to assist providers in doing so. Left unchecked, grade inflation risks damaging public confidence in degrees. The latest figures, released earlier this year, indicated a stalling in the proportion of first class degrees awarded following successive increases over a number of years.'
The proposals were covered by The Times, Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme. Coverage from the Press Association has been picked up by various local and regional newspapers including the Express and Star.