As final year students await news of their degree results it has been revealed that almost twice as many first class degrees are being awarded by UK universities today, compared to 14 years ago - this is the most startling of the latest figures compiled by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
There is also a notable increase in the percentage of those getting an upper second, from 42% in 1995 from to 46% in 2009 - that translates to a total of 131,480 students gaining a 2:1 last year.
Mathematical sciences saw the sharpest rise in students getting an upper second class or above going from 48% in 1995 to 62% last year, while those taking language degrees (including English) tend to do very well, with 74% obtaining a 2:1 or higher against 51% in computer science. Both have seen significant rises in the top grades.
This is all good news, especially set against the the recent announcement by the Association of Graduate Recruiters that four out of five employers now looking for graduate employees are insisting on a minimum 2:1 grade - so the bar is getting higher. But it also needs to be seen in context - over 15 years, the number of students awarded a 2:2 has remained fairly steady at roughly 77,000 to 81,000.
So if you graduate at that level today you will find yourself up against almost 140,000 better-qualified rivals - nearly 30,000 more than you would have done in 1995.
For league tables of which universities gain the best honours degrees in which subjects, see the Complete University Guide's 2010 tables. For more details of this story and graphs of results see the BBC website.
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