The percentage of first and upper second class honours handed out by Irish universities and institutes of technology has climbed significantly over an 11-year period, with students finding it easier than ever to get higher grades, according to new research to be published today.
Amid fears of a so-called "dumbing down" of standards in the third-level sector, the analysis of undergraduate awards, conducted by a group of researchers at Tralee Institute of Technology, argues that this is not due to the emergence of a better calibre of students, or better quality courses.
By comparing the CAO points requirements for courses with results obtained, they instead suggest that many students, particularly in the institute of technology sector, are actually academically weaker than in previous years.
The researchers claim academics are being placed under increasing pressure to award students high marks, with institutions prioritising student numbers and growth at the expense of educational standards.
The research warns that grades awarded at third level in Ireland "do not now represent the standard of previous years". This in turn could have serious implications for the economy and employers who can no longer be sure of the quality of awards made to graduates, it says.
The researchers also claim that, if current levels of "grade inflation" continue, every university student will get a "first" within 30 years.
In their five-part analysis of third-level awards between 1994 and 2004, Martin O'Grady, Dr Brendan Guilfoyle and Simon Quinn claim that:
r In 1994 no university had a rate of firsts exceeding 10 per cent. But by 2004, the rate of firsts awarded had exceeded 10 per cent in all universities, with the rate at UCC exceeding 15 per cent and at DCU exceeding 20 per cent.
r In 1994 the percentage of first class honours degrees awarded across the universities was 7 per cent. Most recent figures available from the HEA, for 2005, show that this figure had risen to 17 per cent, according to the researchers.
r In 1994 four of the seven universities awarded 2:1 rates of below 30 per cent. By 2004, however, all universities exceeded 30 per cent, with four - UCD, UCC, NUI Galway and DCU - above 40 per cent and one, TCD - exceeding 50 per cent. The figures for UCD do not include its arts students,as it does not provide the Higher Education Authority (HEA) with full results for these courses.
r The number of first class honours degrees awarded by the institutes, excluding DIT, has also increased from 8 per cent in 1994 to almost 15 per cent in 2004.
r There has been a 38 per cent increase in the award of distinctions in national certificates (now known as higher certificates) and a 42 per cent increase in the award of distinctions in national diplomas (known as ordinary degrees) in the institute of technology sector.
The study compared the level of grade increases at universities with the change in academic entry requirements for university degree courses, and with trends in CAO points obtained by Leaving Certificate students.
"While a modest trend of increasing points requirements was in evidence, it was not of a scale likely to explain the level of grade increase found," the research states.
The researchers undertook the study in a private capacity and are launching a website to highlight their findings, www.stopgradeinflation.ie, today.
Martin O'Grady, who lectures in psychology at the Institute of Technology Tralee, said the link between real academic performance and grades has been lost within the third level system.