Of all 2021 graduate students celebrating the end of their degree in Northern Ireland, 33% achieved a first-class grade.
Increasing by 50% in the last four years, 2021 graduates trump those from the academic year 2016/17, when 1 in 4 students graduated with a first.
This comes at a time when cohorts affected by the COVID 19 pandemic displayed a rise in the top degree grades across the country. UK universities introduced measures to consider the effect of online learning and pandemic-related difficulties faced by their students during their time of study and examination.
Whilst this could be a strong contributing factor to the increase in the numbers of the highest achieving graduates, universities are their own independent degree-awarding institutions. Therefore, they decide their own degree levels autonomously, at odds with standardised school leaving qualifications such as GCSEs and A levels.
Even so, the most awarded university grade in Northern Ireland was still an upper second class (2:1). The Higher Education Statistics Agency reported that 5,320 students were awarded a 2:1, totalling over half of graduates. 3,500 students achieved a first-class honours degree, and 1,600 celebrated a 2:2 or Pass mark.
As NI Health Minister Robin Swann plans to remove all required COVID 19 restrictions that remain, it is unclear if these figures will continue to rise.
However, it is clear that against fears of students wanting to defer or avoid university due to the pandemic, more NI students are choosing to enrol in university courses. From the 2019/20 academic year, to 2020/21 there was a 12% increase in the number of students starting university. This trend is echoed in postgraduate courses too.
Currently, just shy of 75% of NI students choose to stay in NI for university study, with around a quarter opting to study elsewhere in the UK.