Some effects of the award algorithm on honours degree classifications in UK higher education

In earlier work the Student Assessment and Classification Working Group (SACWG) found that up to 15% of honours classifications in UK higher education might be different if the results had been fed through another institution's award algorithm. In this article a more sensitive analysis has been applied to two blocks of institutional results that have been treated to reflect two variations that can be found in the range of honours degree award algorithms in use in UK higher education: (a) the relative weighting of performances in the second and third (or final) year of full‐time study; and (b) the number of results that can be ‘dropped’ in determining the degree classification. The analyses indicate that a student's honours degree classification may be affected by the way in which a degree classification is computed. Dropping the ‘worst’ 30 credit points from the normal 240 of the final two years of study might raise one classification in six, and (separately) changing the weightings of Year 2:Year 3 results from 50:50 to 25:75 might change one in ten, the majority of changes being upwards.