Revealed: Durham modules ranked by student attainment in 2021-2022 - Palatinate

The article highlights how accessible public records, specifically through Freedom of Information requests, can uncover granular academic performance data. By leveraging open data from whatdotheyknow.com, researchers and students can examine university attainment statistics that are otherwise difficult to compile. This demonstrates the practical value of FOI mechanisms in democratizing information, allowing for transparency in higher education outcomes without relying solely on institutional publications. Analysis of this data reveals significant disparities in student achievement across different departments and specific modules. Physics and English lead in overall attainment, while foundation year courses and certain language modules lag behind. Notably, specific first-year art and second-year language classes showed notably low rates of top grades. These variations suggest that curriculum design, assessment methods, and student preparation levels vary widely, influencing success rates in unpredictable ways across the university landscape. The relevance to open data lies in its capacity to expose these hidden trends and enable comparative analysis beyond official summaries. By making raw attainment figures available, stakeholders can identify best practices or areas needing support, such as the stark contrast between high-performing dissertation modules in modern languages and lower-performing ones in sports science. Ultimately, this transparency fosters a more informed dialogue about educational quality and resource allocation, proving that open data is a powerful tool for accountability and improvement in academic institutions.

Source: palatinate.org.uk
Published on 2025-07-25

Revealed: Durham modules ranked by student attainment in 2021-2022 - Palatinate

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