Rise in First Class degrees awarded

Recent figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that in 2016-17, 26% of students gained a First Class degree, compared with 18% in 2012-13. At Wolverhampton University, the number of "Firsts" has risen from 5% in 2006-7 to 28% in 2016-17; at Liverpool University they rose from 12% to 27% in the same period. Surrey students are evidently the brightest in the UK, as 41% of them received a First Class degree last year, compared with only 33% at Oxford and 32% at Cambridge.