What Percentage of UK Students Get a First Class Degree?

Nationally, roughly 30% of UK graduates now achieve a First class degree. That headline figure hides almost everything that is actually interesting about how grades distribute across institutions and subjects.

Here is what the data shows.

The national trend

In 2010, approximately 15% of UK graduates received a First. By the mid-2020s, that figure was sitting between 28% and 35% depending on the year and how you count it.

This is the context for any individual university's First rate. A university reporting that 35% of its graduates achieved Firsts is sitting above the national trend. One reporting 20% is below it.

The official sector explanation is that student quality has improved and teaching has become better. A less comfortable but widely-supported explanation is that grade inflation has driven a substantial portion of the rise — through assessment redesign, changes in marking culture, and competitive pressure from universities watching their peers' published outcomes.

How it varies by subject

The national average conceals large subject-level differences. Using data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and disclosures from FOI requests, a consistent pattern emerges:

Subjects with higher First rates tend to include: computer science, mathematics, physics, and engineering, where objective marking and well-structured assessments make it easier to score consistently above 70%. Some arts and humanities subjects at certain institutions also show high First rates — partly reflecting smaller cohort sizes and more flexible assessment formats.

Subjects with lower First rates tend to include: law, some social sciences, and subjects where discursive assessment creates more marking variability. Medicine and dentistry mostly do not use the classification system at all.

These are broad patterns. Within any subject, there is more variation between universities than between subjects. A law programme at one institution can produce a higher First rate than a maths programme at another. The subject label is a starting point, not a conclusion.

What FOI data shows about module-level variation

National statistics capture degree-level outcomes. What GradeHack's FOI-sourced module data captures is different: mark distributions on individual modules within those degrees.

The module-level picture is the one that actually matters to a student making module choices.

Within a single degree programme, the First rate on individual optional modules can vary from under 10% to above 50%. That spread does not appear in any national statistic. It does not appear in HESA data, university prospectuses, or league tables.

Two students on the same course, graduating in the same year, with equal ability, can finish with different classifications depending entirely on which optional modules they chose. The national First rate tells you nothing about this.

For more on the structural reasons why module-level variation is so wide, see what FOI data reveals about how UK universities mark.

The grade inflation question

The rise in First rates from 15% to 30%+ in fifteen years is one of the most studied questions in UK higher education. The main findings from independent reviews:

Grade inflation is real but unevenly distributed. Not all institutions have inflated equally. Some have maintained relatively stable distributions over time. Others show consistent upward drift year on year.

Assessment redesign is a partial driver. Universities that moved from timed exams toward continuous assessment or coursework-heavy modules tend to show higher average marks. Coursework averages do tend to be slightly higher than exam averages for most students — this is not purely inflation, but it is a structural factor that inflates the national figure.

External examiner pressure does not fully contain it. External examiners — academics from other institutions who review marking — are supposed to calibrate standards. The evidence suggests this mechanism does not fully control upward drift, partly because external examiners are drawn from the same sector-wide culture that produced the inflation.

Year	Approximate First rate (national)
2010	~15%
2015	~21%
2019	~29%
2022	~32%

Source: HESA degree outcomes data. Figures approximate; precise values vary by methodology and year of publication.

What this means if you are choosing a university

If you are comparing institutions and trying to understand where your chances of achieving a First are highest, the national average is the least useful number. More relevant questions:

• What First rate does the specific institution produce for the specific subject you intend to study?
• Within that subject, which optional modules historically produce wider mark distributions?
• How has the First rate at that institution changed over the past five years — stable, rising, or already plateauing?

Degree outcome data by institution and subject gives you the first of these. GradeHack's module-level data, sourced from FOI requests, gives you the second. The third is available from HESA's published degree outcomes datasets.

The headline national figure is interesting as context. For an individual student, it is almost irrelevant. The module-level variation — invisible in the national statistics — is where the real decisions happen.