A university president has called for a return to normal Leaving Cert grades as soon as possible in order to protect the integrity of exam results. Prof Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, president of University of Galway – which has changed its name from NUI Galway – said inflated grades were doing an “injustice” to students because it was making it harder for colleges to pick between top students for high points courses.
Grades in this year’s Leaving Cert are set to be at a similar level to last year’s record-breaking set of results on foot of a commitment from Minister for Education Norma Foley that this year’s results would be “no lower” than last year.
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In areas like medicine, Prof Ó hÓgartaigh said, the high volume of students securing top grades made it difficult to differentiate between students last year. This led to some students losing out on their first choice course due to the use of random selection.
“If grade inflation is raising all boats then the top student can’t go any further... we were conscious last year that there were some really good students in there who were worthy of a place,” he said, in an interview with The Irish Times.
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He said he was hopeful that the addition of about 60 extra medicine places this year across higher education institutions may help prevent a rerun of this when CAO offers are released next week. In addition, he said there was a risk that inflated grades do not give students a true sense of their ability.
“There’s the Lake Wobegon effect: not all children are above average,” he said. Leaving Cert grades, while imperfect, provide a signal to students where their level of interest and aptitude is at in various subjects.
He also said employers and universities needed a reliable set of Leaving Cert results in order to help measure a student’s academic ability. “There’s also the sense that it has served us well for decades. There are many employers, particularly in professional contexts, who use the Leaving Cert, as well as university results, as a benchmark for interviews. It was seen as a strong indicator of academic performance.”
He said losing the ability to differentiate between “good and really good” students was important and should not be lost.
Some university sources say grade inflation may also be linked to an increase in students struggling to pass exams at some colleges.
Prof Ó hÓgartaigh said that while pass rates fell last year among first and second year students – who benefited from inflated grades – a number of factors may be behind it such as Covid-related disruption, challenges with online engagement or the return of in-person exams.
“The numbers were not dramatic, but they were higher than we anticipated,” he said. “We were going in the other direction pre-Covid and our retention rates were getting better. We put a lot of effort into that.”
He said the full return of on-campus teaching and the full college experience would make it easier to engage and support students.
In the meantime, he said the university was working hard to link homeowners with students to boost the number of beds under the rent-a-room scheme. “On-campus accommodation is likely entirely booked. And there is a waiting list there. But off-campus we’re doing our best to find and help students find accommodation. Our advice is to liaise with us and the Students’ Union.”
On University of Galway’s new name, he said the new title – approved by the university’s governing authority in April – was driven by a need for a title with “simplicity and clarity”.
It is the third name change for the university founded in 1845 as Queen’s College Galway, which later changed to University College Galway and NUI Galway.
