Author Archives: Simon Waters

Mathematics of news

The BBC is running a story about how more than three quarters of graduate employers want a 2:1 or better.

This sounds onerous and highly competitive, till you visit the Higher Education Statistics Agency, and discover about 2/3rds of graduates are currently getting 2:1 or better.

Suddenly employers look unambitious, or perhaps realistic about the educational standards of their potential employees. Presumably the whole thing is founded on the belief that 2:1’s are as rare a beast as they were when I and the journalists were younger.