Study at Oxford University, degree guaranteed

Oxford and 10 other leading British universities did not fail a single student last year, raising questions about standards.

At some of Britain’s top universities, failure is impossible and all must have prizes. Almost a dozen institutions, including Durham, Liverpool and Oxford, have admitted they did not fail a single student in their final exams last year.

All 33,000 undergraduates who took finals at the 11 univer­sities passed and received an award,data released under Freedom of Information laws or given to The Sunday Times found.

A further 32 universities awarded degrees to 99 per cent or more of finalists. Typical of this group was Birmingham, where five of 5768 finalists — 0.09 per cent — failed their exams. At Leeds, 5738 students sat finals and 17, or 0.3 per cent, failed.

The disclosures will add to concern about an apparent erosion of standards.

Former British Labour education minister Andrew Adonis said: “It is not credible that among thousands of students none, or virtually none, will fail to make the grade. This yet again raises the issue of university standards and universities’ obsession with simply milking revenue out of students without requiring enough in ­return.”

Those wanting a guaranteed qualification are advised to apply to Durham, Worcester, Oxford, Liverpool, Surrey, Bath, University of East London, Abertay, Arts University Bournemouth, Sunderland or Edinburgh, none of which failed students. But in three of the 11 a small number of students who “passed” were granted a lesser award than a degree.

Universities that failed fewer than 1 per cent of students include Cambridge, Birmingham, Southampton, Queen’s University Belfast, Stirling, Reading, Aston, Imperial College London, Queen Mary University of London, Nottingham, Nottingham Trent, Essex, Dundee, Leeds, Exeter, Newcastle, University College London, Strathclyde, Lancaster, University of the Arts London, Ulster, King’s College London, Bangor, Sheffield, London South Bank and Suffolk.

The figures are mostly for last year but in some cases from 2016. They cover students who completed their degree courses and do not include those who dropped out. Four universities had a failure rate greater than 10 per cent.

Pass rates for postgraduate study, where higher fees can be charged, were even greater. Success rates for taught master’s degrees were 100 per cent at almost 30 universities.

A member of academic staff at one, Lancaster, said: “We are under great pressure not to fail master’s students, even where they can barely speak or write ­English and their work is ­incomprehensible.”

Universities UK, the umbrella body for higher education, said: “The UK has one of the most robust and transparent systems in the world for assuring academic standards. Universities follow the criteria set out in the UK quality code for higher education, ­developed by the UK’s independent, higher-education quality agency.”

The Sunday Times