Almost every Russell Group university is admitting students with lower grades than before the pandemic, raising concerns that academic standards are falling as institutions battle to fill places to repair their finances.
Average entry grades have declined at 22 of the elite group’s 24 universities since 2018-19, analysis by The i Paper found. In that time, the average grades held by students securing places at the universities dropped from around A*AA to just over AAA.
The University of Liverpool has even fallen out of the Government’s “high-tariff” category, Department for Education data shows. This is the first time since 2021 that a Russell Group member has not been classified in the most selective category.
Iain Mansfield, a former government policy adviser on universities and head of education at the Policy Exchange think-tank, said the findings “start seriously calling into question the value of a degree from some of these universities”.
But universities said their students consistently achieve “strong outcomes” and there is “no evidence of lowering standards”.
The universities lowering grades
The University of Leeds had the biggest slump in accepted grades, falling by nearly 10 UCAS tariff points. Entry grades fell from the equivalent of nearly A*AA in 2018-19 to between AAA and AAB in 2024-25. Leeds was followed by the University of Birmingham (-9 points), the University of Nottingham (-9 points) and University College London (-8 points).
The University of Birmingham’s entry grades dropped from nearly A*AA to between AAA and AAB, while at the University of Nottingham they slipped from AAA to nearly AAB.
Mansfield said there was a “decline in standards at UK universities, including the most prestigious”.
He blamed this on financial pressures at universities and efforts to widen participation.
‘Accepted students may not succeed’
“If you look at, for example, universities’ policies on contextual offers, some of them are dropping grades by up to two or three A-level grades for students from certain backgrounds,” he said.
“They may well be going too far and admitting students who are not qualified to succeed, or then lowering the standards on the course.”
He claimed lower standards on admissions were being accompanied by lower standards on assessments at many universities, where the widespread use of unsupervised online exams leaves them open to being “gamed” by students using artificial intelligence.
“Overall, that does start seriously calling into question the value of a degree from some of these universities,” he added.
The fall in entry grades comes despite tens of thousands more youngsters competing for places.
The number of people applying for university rose from about 692,000 in 2017-18 to 752,00 in 2023-24, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service data shows, a rise of nine per cent.
Record numbers of students were also accepted into their first choice university this year.
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute think-tank, said universities are lowering entry criteria to “make sure all their places are filled”, accepting more British students to compensate for falling numbers of international students.
But he added: “Even with these changes, universities are still having to close courses, make staff redundant and put off improvements to their campuses.”
Elite unis: ‘We remain highly selective’
Universities have blamed their financial woes on a freeze on UK tuition fees between 2017 and 2025 and a visa crackdown that has cut the number of international students, who pay as much as £38,000 for undergraduate degrees.
However, Dr Hollie Chandler, director of strategic policy at the Russell Group, said their universities “maintain very high academic standards and data on entry rates demonstrate they remain highly selective”.
She said universities use a range of measures to assess applicants and admit those who have the “potential to succeed and thrive”.
Chandler said students and graduates consistently achieve “strong outcomes” which are well above the regulator’s benchmarks, adding that there is “no evidence of lowering standards”.
A University of Liverpool spokesperson said they are “proud of our track record in attracting students from a range of backgrounds, who have the potential to succeed”.
The university “delivers a world-class teaching and learning experience which sees them develop into outstanding, work-ready graduates”, they said.
A University of Birmingham spokesperson said they “continue to protect our standards and our environment in which the best qualified students can thrive”.
They set a minimum requirement of three Bs at A-level for most courses, although many are “held to a higher threshold”, they said.
The other Russell Group members either declined or did not respond to requests for comment.
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