Black students less likely to achieve highest master’s grades

Black and Asian students are less likely than their white peers to obtain top marks in postgraduate studies, a new report has found.

The paper, What drives postgraduate awarding gaps? Modelling master’s degree outcomes, found that white students, mature students, and those with higher prior academic attainment were more likely to achieve distinctions in postgraduate taught studies than other subgroups.

Although there is an abundance of research into undergraduate attainment gaps, the report says, there is a “scarcity” of research on the same issues at postgraduate level. Any existing research “is limited” and “often concentrated in medicine”, it adds.

The paper used student-level data from the University of Leeds from the five academic years between 2017-18 to 2021-22 to statistically model key influences on postgraduate taught outcomes, analysing the results of 6,147 students.

Black students had the highest probability (14 per cent) of being awarded a pass – the lowest pass grade at postgraduate level – more than double that of white students, at 6 per cent. They also had the lowest probability of achieving a distinction, at 26 per cent. White students had a 46 per cent chance of achieving the highest grade, and for Asian students it was 30 per cent.

“This remains a cause for concern for all interested in promoting equity in higher education practices,” it says.

There were also “non-significant effects” on outcomes by factors including sex, full-time or part-time study and disability status, suggesting that “previous policies to overcome differences, or perceptions thereof, have had some success, and that going forwards differential attainment policies could be better focussed elsewhere”.

Overall, the biggest indicator of success at postgraduate level was prior academic performance. Students with a first-class or upper second-class degree had odds of achieving a higher classification at 4.1 times and 1.4 times respectively, compared with those with only a third or pass mark at undergraduate level.

But, the report says, the relationship between prior and current attainment “is quite nuanced in our data, and the relationship is not as strong and consistent as one might have perhaps expected”. 

“This suggests that across the sample, students who begin their master’s studies with relatively weak undergraduate outcomes can still expect to progress to a final master’s level not that far below those who come in with stronger undergraduate attainment.”

Students studying through the pandemic (in academic years 2019-20 and 2020-21) had greater odds of achieving a higher mark compared with non-pandemic cohorts, and master’s students over the age of 25 were more likely to achieve a distinction than their younger counterparts.

Matt Homer, report co-author and associate professor in the department for education at Leeds, told Times Higher Education that the ethnicity gaps were “disappointing to see but not that surprising”.

“The big surprise is how little relevant research is out there for master’s programmes on what drives or is associated with attainment. We need more of this – ideally across multiple institutions,” he said.

The lack of research may be driven by the “methodological challenges” of such studies, with the report’s authors noting that they did not have the measurements available to evaluate the impact of socio-economic status on postgraduate outcomes. 

“There is also the need for more qualitative research about student experiences on postgraduate taught programmes,” Homer said. “Without this, how can we hope to develop and implement really good policy that might help shrink gaps as quickly as possible?”

Pursuing postgraduate education is often regarded as a substantial investment in prospects because of the high costs involved, with recent analysis by Times Higher Education showing the average tuition fee for a master’s course in 2025-26 was £13,071.

Undertaking a master’s degree can therefore be “discouraging for many individuals and sub-groups, particularly if attainment outcomes are uncertain due to persistent awarding gaps”, according to the report.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com