"The analysis, published today in PLoS ONE, used data from nearly 25,000 master's students and 16,000 PhD students admitted to more than 150 graduate programmes at the university from 1999 to 2020."
"To ensure that the inflation was not caused by a genuine increase in students' abilities, the researchers conducting the analysis adjusted their data using the incoming students' scores on a standard US admissions test, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)."
"The reasons behind grade inflation are unclear. But one hypothesis is that university professors might be incentivized to give higher grades to receive better student evaluations or to boost enrolment."
Over the past two decades, master's and PhD students' grades have risen significantly at a large public university in the US Midwest. The mean GPA for master's students increased from 3.70 to 3.82, while PhD candidates saw a rise from 3.74 to 3.82. Researchers adjusted for incoming students' GRE scores and demographic changes, yet grades continued to rise. The reasons for this grade inflation remain unclear, with one hypothesis suggesting professors may be incentivized to award higher grades for better evaluations or increased enrollment.
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