A grade inflation study in an Irish Business College

Due to the difficulty in measurement of grade inflation this study was devised to measure firsts and distinctions to ascertain the quantity of grade inflation. This study takes a two pronged approach to discovering the real and perceived existence or otherwise of grade inflation in the College. In the first instance a comparative study of the grades achieved by final year students in the year 2000 and in the year 2010 was undertaken, the data used to ascertain this information was collected from the College computer database which serves two of the schools in the College. The information demonstrates that the number of firsts awarded to students grew by one hundred percent. In the second instance a perception survey was carried out in the College where all academics in the college were asked to complete the survey. The results of this survey assert that there exists a perception of the upward movement in the awarding of first class honours. They also confirm that the upward movement of grades is caused in the main by institutional pressures to increase marks rather than educational imperatives.

Autorentext

Derek Simon has been lecturing in Management in The College of Business, Dublin Institute of Technology since 1988. Prior to that he spent a short period in the Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka and the Zambian Institute of Technology in Kitwe. Before taking up a teaching position he worked in the air handling industry and the tourism industry.