The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) has recorded a fall in the number of first-class degrees awarded for the first time.
In 2021/22, 32% of undergraduate degrees were awarded a first-class honours classification, a fall of four percentage points from 36% from the year before, the HESA said.
However, 46% of students were awarded upper second-class degrees in 2021/22, the same proportion as in 2020/21.
It marks the first time that the HESA has recorded a fall in the number of first-class degrees awarded since it was founded in 1993 and comes after universities in England pledged last July to reverse degree inflation.
