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

This article demonstrates the transformative power of open data by utilizing a Freedom of Information request to uncover granular academic performance metrics. By making internal university assessment data publicly accessible, the publication reveals significant disparities in student attainment across various departments and modules. This transparency allows stakeholders to move beyond vague institutional claims and examine specific educational outcomes, highlighting how open data can foster accountability and deeper insight into higher education quality. The analysis identifies notable variations in academic success, with physics and English leading in average marks while foundation year modules lag significantly behind. It further breaks down performance by year group, exposing stark contrasts between the most and least successful specific courses. These findings illustrate that open data is not merely about volume but about revealing hidden patterns and inequalities within complex systems, enabling a more nuanced understanding of where support or intervention might be needed. Ultimately, this case is relevant to the open data movement because it proves that accessible government and institutional information can drive meaningful public discourse. It empowers students and researchers to evaluate institutional effectiveness critically rather than passively accepting published statistics. By democratizing access to raw performance data, society can better assess educational standards, encouraging institutions to improve transparency and ensuring that data serves the public interest rather than just internal administration.

Source: palatinate.org.uk
Published on 2025-12-13

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

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