Degrees of improvement?

Sir, – Prof Hugh Brady, president of Imperial College London, draws attention to the deteriorating quality of student experience in Irish universities as a consequence of underfunding, including “bigger class sizes, less small-group teaching, poorer IT and lab infrastructure and a much more limited range of research opportunities” (Education, June 22nd).

However, student performance, as evidenced by the quality of the degrees obtained by graduates, has improved greatly over the last decade. The number of “firsts” and “high-seconds” is now greater that ever.

We are assured by the universities that this improvement is not due to grade inflation.

So what then is going on? Is it the case that the consequences of the funding-gap are more imagined than real? – Yours, etc,