The Higher Education Achievement Report

1

• The Higher Education Achievement Report
• (HEAR)
• Jane Bunce

2
Context

• Burgess Group Report October 2007
• Beyond the honours degree classification
• Burgess Implementation Steering Group
• HEAR Pilot- 16 institutions
• NUS
• Centre for Recording Achievement

3
Case for change

• The Burgess Report summarised the case for
  change as follows that
• A summative system is at odds with lifelong
  learning
• There is a need to do justice to the full range
  of student experience by allowing a wider
  recognition of achievement
• The HE sector has been transformed out of all
  recognition from that which gave rise to the (200
  year old) honours degree classification, which
  was devised for a traditional concept of higher
  education
• The present system cannot capture achievements in
  some key areas of interest to students and
  employers and many employers could be missing out
  on the skills and experience of potential
  recruits merely because these students had not
  obtained an First or Upper Second

4
Case for Change (cont.)

• The focus on the top two degree classes wrongly
  reinforces an impression that a lower Second or
  Third Class degree is not an achievement, when in
  fact students with such degrees have met the
  standard required for an honours degree, graduate
  level qualification
• Institutional methods for calculating the degree
  classification could be clearer in order to help
  students understanding of what they are being
  awarded and what is being recognised
• The means of representing student achievement
  should be radically reformed-ideally to replace
  the summative judgement with a more detailed set
  of information.

5
The wider context

• Burgess identified
• A need to do justice to the full range of
  student experience by allowing a wider
  recognition of achievement
• Burgess recognised that
• The present system cannot capture achievement
  in some key areas of interest to students and
  employers

6
Confirming the core task

• To test out the feasibility of producing the HEAR
• Using data from past students(2008 graduates)
• In at least two defined subject areas, (from
  English, Creative Arts, Accountancy and Biology)
• By January 2009 to provide a report on progress
  and supporting commentary