Pass / Merit / Distinction at Master's level... Where's the data?

Hi,

Because I'm geeky. I was wondering if there has been any published data concerning

* proportion of individuals receiving each classification
* proportion of individuals receiving classification by mean graduate salary
* The value of a distinction / merit etc when applying for international study or funding at doctoral level (Are distinctions treated as means tested?)
* Statements from employers about their attitudes towards those who receive a distinction.

There seems to be a lot of undergraduate data but surprisingly, not a lot of factual information about the relevance of classification at post-graduate level. I am interested because I recently received a distinction and I'm wondering what prospects I have should I decide to emigrate to study in Eindhoven or Amsterdam in a combined Psychology and Technology course. (2.1 hons Psychology at undergraduate)

Is there any objective data or is it all subjective and uncharted territory?

Thanks.

Reply 1

BO'H

i suspect that the short answer is that no one cares enough to try to collect that data. employers in particular aren't going to be bothered about the nuances of masters classification - you either have one or you don't.

Reply 2

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by CaptainOrange

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There's no data because there's no consistency of grading between universities and not all universities even use those 'grades'. You Distinction just means that that university thinks your performance on that course was worthy of 'distinction'.

Reply 3

cjc3676

There is a certain amount of consistency in that most Distinctions are awarded for 'above 70%' - but not all Unis award Distinctions.

Reply 4

sj27

Original post by cjc3676

There is a certain amount of consistency in that most Distinctions are awarded for 'above 70%' - but not all Unis award Distinctions.

Really? I've heard of ones that don't award merits but wasn't aware of any that didn't award distinctions. Some unis have 60% for pass and 75% for distinction, and I think someone posted before about one that has the pass mark at 40% rather than the more usual 50%.

Reply 5

Klix88

There's a lot of variability between universities - and even between faculties within universities. However as has been said, I suspect that nobody cares enough to do that kind of study (there's probably a PhD in that somewhere.) A lot of public money goes into funding Student Loans, making undergraduate performance and prospects a useful political tool. As there's no such funding for Masters students, the people shouting about undergrad qualifications can't use them.

Comparing Masters universities and courses is just something that each applicant has to do for themselves.

Reply 6

Joinedup

Shouldn't be hard to get the data for #1 with freedom of information requests.

Iirc uk salary surveys don't show a significant uplift in salary for masters holders over people with bachelors degrees though I guess this could be partly sector dependant.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 7

BO'H

on the masters i just finished at newcastle 5 out of 15 got distinctions - which does seem high but to get one you had to average 70+ and get over 70 on the dissertation.

otoh i have an old masters from the lse where my coursework and diss were all in the 60s and i got a pass - would have been a merit under the current newcastle scheme.

Reply 8

sj27

All this even before you get to the aspect of trying to compare across master's. Sure you get some "generic" ones (economics, finance, IR, politics, whatever) but then you can also get very specialized ones. Some unis have 4 or 5 different degree options that another uni will offer just one (more generalized) degree for, etc, so comparability becomes very tricky from that aspect too.

Reply 9

evantej

The real reason there is no data for this sort of thing is because postgraduate study is not publicly funded, which means there is no incentive for the government and the likes of HECFE to collect data in the first place.

The assessment differences between universities are largely irrelevant to be honest.