A first-class fiasco.

Abstract

Politicians and policymakers are responsible for the mess that is the degree classification system in the U.K. Since the mid-1990s, governments have preached to academics about the new reality of student-centered education, and universities are being warned that they must widen participation and maintain high retention rates. Although university autonomy is blamed for the arbitrary nature of the degree classification system, the real culprit is the steady erosion of university autonomy by government over the last twenty years.