The determinants of undergraduate degree performance: how important is gender?

Abstract

This study uses data drawn from three recent cohorts of undergraduates at the University of Sussex to investigate the key determinants of degree performance. The primary theme of the study is an examination of the gender dimension to degree performance. The average ‘good’ degree rate for female students was found to be superior to the male rate. The modest raw gender differential in first class degree rates favoured women but was found to be attributable to their better endowments, particularly pre‐entry qualifications. The largest differential favouring women was in the II:i classification, where almost all of the difference was attributable to differentials in coefficient treatment rather than endowments (or characteristics). The analysis undertaken also allowed the investigation of a number of sub‐themes relating to the effects on degree performance of, inter alia, pre‐entry qualifications, ethnicity, socio‐economic background and health disability. The largest effects were reserved for the role of pre‐entry qualifications with more modest effects detected for ethnicity and socio‐economic background.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to two anonymous referees of this journal for helpful and constructive comments on an earlier draft. However, the usual disclaimer applies. The authors also acknowledge the research assistance provided by Gemma Mills for this study.