In general the 2nd Major is in the same faculty as your main major. To illustrate this with an example, a student with 300 points from three A-Levels (BBB or equivalent) studying biological sciences had (in our dataset) a probability of obtaining a first class degree of 0.06 at a university with an average entry standard of 338 points from 3 A-Levels compared with 0.35 at a university with an average of 247. This expected number can then be compared with the actual number at that university. Each university will have set its own criteria for what deserves a first/second/third class degree grade, so you can't expect the standards to be the same. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? At Oxford it is called a ‘congratulatory first’. First-class Honours (70% and above) – also known as a First or 1st In a majority of universities this is the highest honours that can be attained with roughly only 10 % of students reaching this level. It is, however, equally hard to prove that they are not. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? If you find yourself thinking, "I've been to all my lectures and seminars, … Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines. The universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Glasgow have been known to award “double firsts”. The Open University is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our journalists will try to respond by joining the threads when they can to create a true meeting of independent Premium. The existing Open Comments threads will continue to exist for those who do not subscribe to Independent Premium. Updated February 2016 . But it was a comparatively small system and, through external examiners, universities were able to keep a reasonably close eye on each other and stay in step. Before the number of universities more than doubled, he says, there was already a hierarchy with Oxford and Cambridge at the top. But if you’re University College London or Aston University, you’re in luck. NUC Approved New Grade System For Universities: The National Universities Commission, NUC is no longer using a scale of five, the new system is based on a scale of four. You can go to the same school you earned your first one, or go to any other. The proportion of students getting good degrees has been going up and some commentators have been accusing universities of changing their standards. His council has been assessing the quality of teaching and learning in universities for two years. That is not, of course, the same as saying that degree standards are the same at every university. Of those who didn't get a first… Honours: NUS follows a Honours Class system: CAP 4.50 and above – First Class Honours CAP 4.00 – 4.49 – Second Class (Upper) Honours CAP 3.50 – 3.99 – Second Class (Lower) CAP 3.00 – 3.49 – Third Class (Lower) Black students are more than three times less likely to be awarded a first-class university degree than their white classmates, a major study has revealed. Just been looking at OU website and it seems that you can get first class honours degree with just one first and three seconds or two first and two thirds (they take into account 4 course results, 2 of which have to 3rd kevel and then they do all sort of complicated calculations). To illustrate this with an example, a student with 300 points from three A-Levels (BBB or equivalent) studying biological sciences had (in our dataset) a probability of obtaining a first class degree of 0.06 at a university with an average entry standard of 338 points from 3 A-Levels compared with 0.35 at a university with an average of 247. Any university will offer as many bachelor’s degrees that you have the time and money to pursue. Statement: a 1st class degree from Oxford is equal to a first class degree from London Met in the same subject. These probabilities can then be used to calculate an expected number of students at a particular university getting a given class of degree. Evidence from the funding council's assessments indicates that with only seven exceptions, acceptable quality has none the less been maintained. In fields such as computing and personnel management, the newer universities may well have the best chance of taking the lead. Develop your research skills. Leeds is a very good university which is known for it's high standards (which is why I'll be doing my MA there starting September yaaay), so even though it may be harder for you to get a first you can be sure that if you do it's because you fully deserve it. The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302). That may well be true but can it explain these results? A more detailed study might take account of other factors such as gender, ethnicity, type of school attended, etc, but the impact of these other variables would have to be very large in order to make a substantial difference to the conclusions of this simpler study. This is essentially the same methodology as used to calculate benchmarks in the TEF metrics and the HESA performance indicators. ← Harnessing the opportunities in global higher education. If you look at First and 2:1 degrees together in the same way, you get the same pattern but the differentials are smaller, with Quartile 1 and 2 institutions awarding 2-3% more First/2:1 degrees than expected and Quartile 4 institutions awarding 1.5% fewer. Honours degrees are classified, usually based on a weighted average (with higher weight given to marks in the later years of the course, and often zero weight to those in the first year) of the marks gained in exams and other assessments. Like other Scottish universities, many of our undergraduate degrees are named 'masters'. Figure 4: Upper degrees and staff–student ratio, 2008–2017 People who get As and Bs at A-level tend to go on certain courses at certain universities. Create a commenting name to join the debate, There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts, There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts. The difference of 2.3% is Deadlines are extremely important in many parts of life but they are crucial if you want to achieve a first class degree. The graph below clearly shows that students at universities with high tariff scores (Q4) are much less likely to get a first class degree than expected when you allow for the tariff score and subject studied of those students. University - percentage First class awards The proportion of degrees awarded (excluding unclassified and other) in the first class category increased from 14.7% in 2005/06 to 17.0% in 2009/10 or from 441 to 571 firsts. Figure 3: Upper degrees and average UCAS score, 2008–2017 . With different exams in different universities, and without a national curriculum for higher education subjects, the assessment of degree standards is bound to retain a considerable element of subjectivity. Working out your Class of Honours . University standards have been in the news quite a bit recently, largely as a result of so-called ‘grade inflation’. Any views expressed in this article are those of the Complete University Guide and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Nottingham. All groups award about the same number of First/2:1 degrees as expected. How about a table of universities based on the average mark required to get a first class degree? I originally graduated in 1983 with a 2:2 in Mathematics from the University of Sheffield.How does my standard correspond to today’s ? This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Dr Andrew Hindmarsh, who is an analyst for the Complete University Guide and also Head of Planning at the University of Nottingham. Although there are some quirks at individual institutions, and the Scottish system is somewhat different to that which prevails in the rest of the country, this is the basic setup. Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. We obtained a dataset from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) consisting of the numbers of students in each subject at each university, their degree classification and their tariff points from their best three A-Levels over the last five years. {{#verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}}, 'To argue that all degrees are the same standard is probably empty, You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully, Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable, Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties, We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification. The University of Surrey has given first-class degrees to more than 40% of its students in recent years - and now about three-quarters of them either get a first … The first degree you study towards at university is called an undergraduate qualification eg, bachelor's degrees, certificates, and diplomas. He argues: "Concerns have been expressed about the effects of the substantial efficiency gains made by higher education in recent years (on average 5 per cent for each of the past five years). At worst, it actively rewards grade inflation. In contrast, students at universities with a low tariff score (Q1 and Q2) are much more likely to get a first class degree than you would expect. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. The first-class degree or often commonly referred to as “first”, is the highest academic achievement at the undergraduate level in UK universities. "Now it is quite hard to maintain the position that a degree is a degree. 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