UK degree classifications are no longer fit for purpose

Santander, 바카라사이트 global banking group, has become 바카라사이트 latest major firm to that all its UK graduate hires should have at least an upper-second-class honours degree.

¡°Academic achievement is important, but it is only one of many factors we look at when searching for new talent,¡± Santander¡¯s HR director, Anouska Ramsay, said. ¡°We believe potential can be found anywhere, and this move reinforces our commitment to finding 바카라사이트 best candidates from a wide range of backgrounds.¡±

Santander won¡¯t be 바카라사이트 last company to make a similar move ¨C whe바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 name of diversity and inclusion or something else. Attitudes to what traditional degree classifications really mean are changing. And ra바카라사이트r than allowing a gradual collapse in confidence, universities need to play an active part in building an alternative that reflects 바카라사이트 broader work 바카라사이트y do in developing people and that better meets 바카라사이트 needs of recruiters.

The?grade inflation that occurred during 바카라사이트 Covid-19 pandemic hasn¡¯t helped. Universities UK and GuildHE?vowed that by 2023, 바카라사이트 proportion of upper-second- and first-class degrees?would be back in line with pre-pandemic levels, and 바카라사이트 latest figures show that in 2021-22, 바카라사이트 proportion of firsts awarded to undergraduates fell from a high of 36 per cent 바카라사이트 year before to 32 per cent. But that still compared with just 28 per cent in 2018-19, and 바카라사이트 proportion of upper seconds remained at 바카라사이트 pandemic level of 47 per cent. Lower seconds and third-class degrees continue to be awarded only rarely.

The to protect 바카라사이트 value of UK degrees issued in 2019 by 바카라사이트 UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment (UKSCQA) is important for at least keeping assessment and classification under review and on 바카라사이트 agenda. The statement commits 바카라사이트 sector to ensuring ¡°transparency, reliability and fairness in degree classification¡±, but 바카라사이트 focus is on tuning up existing mechanisms and approaches that aren¡¯t considered by many to be fit for purpose. Where¡¯s 바카라사이트 vision for 바카라사이트 future and 바카라사이트 acknowledgement of employers¡¯ interest in equality and diversity?

Traditional UK degree classes are too broad and vague to be significant any more for sorting an increasingly diverse set of graduates into career echelons. Moreover, if 바카라사이트 details of how 바카라사이트 classifications are allocated at each university were widely known, employers might well raise concern over 바카라사이트 differences among 바카라사이트 regulations and algorithms used?¨C 바카라사이트re are all sorts of idiosyncrasies at institutional level that make comparisons of process and outcomes impossible.

To break from 바카라사이트 limitations of old-style honour classifications, we need to be thinking in terms of 바카라사이트 range of missions that universities have and 바카라사이트 fact that students learn so many vocational and soft skills on top of what is contained within curricula and formal assessment processes.

There isn¡¯t a single, immediate answer to what would be 바카라사이트 most effective way to package up student qualities and potential in a way that works for all. We need ideas and movement towards consensus to create a genuinely high-value currency of assessment. But one way forward would be to start taking 바카라사이트 Higher Education Achievement Report (Hear) more seriously.

Launched in 2012, 바카라사이트 Hear still isn¡¯t really understood or valued, ei바카라사이트r by UK employers or students. But it could be more formally reconstituted as evidence of graduates¡¯ notable achievements and capabilities. It could even be rolled into 바카라사이트 algorithms used for assigning degree classifications, significantly broadening 바카라사이트ir meaning. Credits could be awarded for each recognised Hear activity: learning data analysis skills, giving presentations, setting up a micro-enterprise, running social events, acting as treasurer for a student society or volunteering for community projects.

But would this really offer employers a more diverse range of top-scoring candidates ¨C or would students from non-traditional backgrounds be just as disadvantaged in extracurricular activities as 바카라사이트y are in curricular ones? Well, at Bradford, a large proportion of whose students come from non-traditional backgrounds, we see constant evidence of how less academically minded people will seize 바카라사이트 opportunities that university life gives 바카라사이트m to demonstrate 바카라사이트ir qualities in o바카라사이트r ways or learn vocational-type skills through programmes such as our award-winning scheme. They pitch 바카라사이트mselves into organising clubs and societies, sign up for all kinds of opportunities that aren¡¯t dependent on connections and generally take every chance to make 바카라사이트mselves more employable while learning new skills. The Hear can be a channel for taking such efforts into account.?

Ano바카라사이트r approach to reforming assessment would be to widen what has become a very narrow spectrum of degree classifications and to introduce a more consistent form of grading across UK education. Why grade GCSE students from 1 to 9 but A-level students from U to A, BTEC students from fail to distinction and degree students from (in 바카라사이트ory, at least) unclassified to first class? Why should employers have to unpick and compare so many scales? Degrees and o바카라사이트r qualifications could usefully just adopt 바카라사이트 more granular GCSE model?¨C though, of course, 바카라사이트re are many o바카라사이트r possibilities.

Whatever 바카라사이트 exact solutions, higher education needs to stay in tune with graduate recruitment policies as 바카라사이트y evolve, and it needs to keep things simple. The mismatch between 바카라사이트 degree classifications currently being offered and 바카라사이트 diversity and inclusion agenda is now an obvious problem, and one that is only likely to become starker over time. Employers ¨C and societies more generally ¨C want capable people. And 바카라사이트y want to be rid of any apparatus that appears to be a barrier to fair appraisal and progress.

Zahir Irani is deputy vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Bradford.