Gender gap in Imperial First-class rate achievement increasing again
The gender gap in the share of female and male undergraduates who are awarded First-class degrees at Imperial is increasing again, data obtained via a Felix Freedom of Information request shows.
A higher share of female graduates was awarded First-class degrees in 2019-20 for the first time, when grade inflation reached its peak and 53% of all degree honours achieved were Firsts. But this trend reversed in after the Covid pandemic. The most recent data, from 2024-25, shows 45% of male graduates achieving a First, compared to 37% of female graduates.
Nonetheless, over the past twenty years, women at Imperial have consistently matched or outperformed the male obtention rate for First and Upper Second degrees taken together.
The data also shows that Third-class awards at Imperial have rarefied, plummeting from 3.1% of all awards in 2004-05 to just 0.6% in 2024-25.
The full dataset can be found on Imperial’s FOI disclosure log.
