Eighteen Universities to Pilot Higher Education Achievement Record
Eighteen universities are to pilot the new Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR) recommended by the Burgess Group after three years of consultation and review of the UK's classification system, which was led by Professor Bob Burgess, the Vice Chancellor at the University of Leicester.
The Burgess Group work came about to address issues arising from grade inflation, which sees 60% of all UK undergraduates now achieving a degree classification of 2.1 or better. This has led to problems where recruiters for blue-chip companies and elite institutions find it difficult to identify who really are the top performers. Elsewhere, employers use the summative classification as a means to easily reduce their shortlists, so reducing their recruitment efforts, but also meaning that they lose out on excellent candidates who may have rich and varied experiences from their time at university.
The HEAR sets out to address these issues by providing a more complete view of graduates achievements at university.
The Burgess Report recommends that the HEAR should incorporate as one of four sections the existing Diploma Supplement (DS) and refers to "work in Irelend on the electronic interpretation of the DS", a reference to Digitary's use by institutions accounting for 68% of the Irish publicly funded student population and addressing two key areas of concern addressed by Digitary, which are authentication and cost.
© Digitary 2011.
