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Grading Standards in Higher Education: Trends, Context, and Prognosis

Handbook of Academic Integrity

Abstract

Concerns about diluted grading standards in higher education have been an easy conversation starter over the past 30 years in developed Western nations. Why have these concerns arisen? Are they well founded? If real, does grade inflation present a threat to the higher education sector or to scientific progress – and if so, why? What is the prognosis for grading standards in the future? This chapter surveys the existing evidence about the phenomenon of grade inflation in Western universities and then discusses the underlying socioeconomic and political factors that lead to it, for what reasons it might be considered a problem, and what might be done about it if one does consider it a problem. A macro-behavioral view of the motivations and interactions of the parties involved (governments, universities, students, and academics) is employed to analyze the issue and suggest responses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics, UNSW Business School, Building E-12, Room 453, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Gigi Foster

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  1. Gigi Foster
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Correspondence to Gigi Foster .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Tracey Bretag

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© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

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Foster, G. (2015). Grading Standards in Higher Education: Trends, Context, and Prognosis. In: Bretag, T. (eds) Handbook of Academic Integrity. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-079-7_48-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-079-7_48-2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-079-7

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  1. Latest

    Grading Standards in Higher Education: Trends, Context, and Prognosis
    Published:
    16 May 2023

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-079-7_48-3

  2. Grading Standards in Higher Education: Trends, Context, and Prognosis
    Published:
    29 October 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-079-7_48-2

  3. Original

    Grading Standards in Higher Education: Trends, Context, and Prognosis
    Published:
    21 August 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-079-7_48-1

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