Universities clash with regulator on ‘baked in’ grade inflation

This has little to do with talented but disadvantaged students. Over my career of 30 years as an academic, there has been a steady increase in Firsts awarded. One of the problems is the box-ticking mentality of learning outcomes. The whole point about First Class work is that I cannot teach it to someone - it must come from innovation on the part of the student to take them beyond a good Upper Second. My current department has not suffered grade inflation but then starts to be criticised as "a hard place to get a degree". However, this means that graduates have a high value in the marketplace but the constant pressure to return relatively high averages means it can be hard to maintain standards.

Four in five outputs judged to be either ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. Excellent institutions produce excellent students.. as simple as that.