Who gets good degrees?

Extract

In a previous article in the March 1979 Gazette I looked at a population of 589 students entering a particular university department between 1971 and 1975 to read for a degree in mathematics, or in mathematics-with-another-subject. These students graduated between 1974 and 1978.

The present article provides updated information for students entering between 1976 and 1983 (graduating 1979 to 1986 respectively). Several factors have changed since the earlier survey. A significant change is the increase in the number of entrants offering single-subject mathematics at A-level. A second important factor has been the consequences flowing from the UGC cuts in universities in 1981; admission targets are now much more closely controlled and the level of offer to intending entrants has often tended to rise (certainly the case at this institution). There has been, as a result, a decrease in the number of students entering with poorish grades.