Disparity in number of first-class honours

**There were large disparities in the number of first-class honours degrees awarded to graduates of different departments last year, the _Boar_ reveals.**

The starkest contrasts were between Law and Mathematics. Only 10 per cent of Law students received a first last year, while 41 per cent of Mathematics students gained the sought-after classification.

These data follow a _Boar_ report in January which found that one-quarter of Warwick students were awarded firsts last year, compared to the national average of one-sixth.

Statistics obtained from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) for the 2011/12 academic year show that the only department to award fewer firsts than Law was the Institute of Education, which awarded nine percent of students firsts.

However, the University’s Law department awarded the highest number of upper-seconds(2:1s) with 69 percent of Law students receiving upper-seconds. Meanwhile, only 34 percent of Mathematics students received upper-seconds, the lowest number of second-highers awarded by a department at Warwick.

The average number of firsts for Law awarded by Russell Group universities was 13 percent. The University of Birmingham’s Law department awarded the lowest percentage of firsts, with the figure only at four percent. In contrast, 25 percent of Law students at the University of Edinburgh received firsts.

Ben Taylor, a third-year Mathematics undergraduate aiming for a first, suggested that the difference in assessment methods between departments might have an influence.

“Maths modules normally have assessed work sheets and so you’re more likely to realise if you don’t understand something. Other departments seem to have big pieces of assessed work once a term or so, and therefore you don’t get the same level of feedback.”

First-year Law undergraduate, Graham Dickins, said that the teaching of Law is less guided than of Mathematics and requires more personal input from the student.

“Law is a very independent subject which, from what I’ve heard, isn’t as evident with Maths. Law requires a lot of discipline and self-motivation to actually progress. The confident law student has to have a desire to explore the real-life value of law, but also the complex, academic and often philosophical struggles to be able to answer essay questions.”

A spokesperson for the University said that while he did not know why so few Law students obtained firsts, he pointed to a statement from the Law School: “[Warwick Law School’s] research follows many tracks, emphasising historical, international, comparative, theoretical and cross-cultural approaches…leading to distinctive research-led modules.

“Our graduates are sought after for their strengths in both legal doctrine and in thinking about law imaginatively and contextually. The desirability of these skills is reflected in our graduates’ high employment rates.”

Regarding the Mathematics department, he said: “Mathematics requires some of the highest entry requirements of any Warwick department. It is one of the top three university Mathematics departments in the UK according to the Times Good University Guide. Some of the brightest applicants in the UK enter that department and it is therefore no surprise that they leave that department as some of the most accomplished.”