Transparency information - Birkbeck, University of London

Introduction

Birkbeck is publishing this ‘Transparency information’ under guidance from the Office for Students. This is degree attainment (i.e. the classification of degree achieved) by students studying at Birkbeck.

This information appears in the tables below.

The Birkbeck context

Birkbeck, University of London, delivers much of its teaching from 6pm to 9pm, retaining our historic mission to educate working Londoners. We are proud to be a university that opens its doors to people who may otherwise not be able to study.

We have maintained our commitment to enabling access for mature students, while also diversifying and increasing the number of younger students, through our full-time undergraduate degrees. We continue to be a widening access institution and a significant voice for the high proportion of our students coming from underrepresented groups. We remain committed to driving this agenda in the higher education sector.

The transparency information on attainment shows that, in common with the university sector as a whole, there are significant gaps in attainment between students from different backgrounds. At Birkbeck, these gaps in attainment have narrowed in recent years. Closing them further is a strategic priority for us and our plans to address this are outlined in our Access and Participation Plan.

We have conducted an extensive research project into factors associated with academic performance at Birkbeck and are implementing an action plan to further reduce gaps in attainment between student groups.

The transparency information on admissions shows that Birkbeck students reflect London itself, with around half our undergraduate students coming from BAME backgrounds, and more than half coming from relatively socially-deprived backgrounds.

Advice from the Office for Students

The information published on this page shows the number of students who attained a particular degree or other academic award, or a particular level of such an award, on completion of their course with us.

It also shows these numbers by reference to:

the gender of the individuals to which they relate
their ethnicity
their socioeconomic background.

It is important to note that the data presented has not been contextualised. This means, for example, that you will not be able to see from this data how many of those applying to courses met the entry criteria. It is also the case that universities and colleges will often receive many more applications than they have spaces on courses, and so offer rates will necessarily be lower than application rates in those circumstances.

Transparency information, 2026

Attainment of 2023-24 and 2024-25 qualifiers

Provider: Birkbeck College

UKPRN: 10007760

Tables 1a: Percentage of classified first degrees at grade 2:1 or above by characteristic, for 2023-24 and 2024-25 qualifiers

2023-24 qualifiers

Characteristic	Characteristic split	Percentage
Ethnicity	Asian	64.1%
	Black	53.5%
	Mixed	79.4%
	Other	62.2%
	White	82.5%
English IMD 2025 quintile	1	66.4%
	2	69.1%
	3	70.8%
	4	79.1%
	5	81.9%
Sex	Female	73.3%
	Male	68.8%

2024-25 qualifiers

Characteristic	Characteristic split	Percentage
Ethnicity	Asian	71.8%
	Black	61.6%
	Mixed	83.3%
	Other	71.2%
	White	78.3%
English IMD 2025 quintile	1	67.5%
	2	73.2%
	3	77.7%
	4	79.8%
	5	69.4%
Sex	Female	74.2%
	Male	72.9%

Tables 1b: Detailed information on attainment for 2023-24 and 2024-25 qualifiers

Full-time students, first degrees, 2023-24

Characteristic	Characteristic split	Classified first degrees (head count)	First class	Upper second class	Lower second class	Third class/pass	Unclassified (head count)	Other undergraduate awards (head count)
Ethnicity	Asian	70	7.7%	47.7%	32.3%	12.3%	[none]	[low]
	Black	60	4.8%	41.9%	45.2%	8.1%	[none]	[low]
	Mixed	40	22.7%	50.0%	25.0%	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	Other	30	15.2%	42.4%	39.4%	[DPL]	[none]	[none]
	White	210	29.3%	48.1%	20.2%	2.4%	[low]	20
	Unknown	80	20%	36.0%	36.0%	8.0%	[low]	60
EIMD 2025 quintile	1	100	17.5%	45.4%	33.0%	4.1%	[low]	30
	2	170	17.6%	47.1%	31.2%	4.1%	[low]	50
	3	100	21.2%	41.3%	30.8%	6.7%	[low]	[low]
	4	80	22.4%	50.0%	19.7%	7.9%	[none]	[low]
	5	40	30.6%	41.7%	22.2%	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	N/A	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[none]	[none]
	Unknown	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
Sex	Female	280	21.3%	45.4%	28.0%	5.3%	[low]	60
	Male	200	19.1%	44.6%	30.9%	5.4%	[low]	70
	Unknown	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]

Part-time students, first degrees, 2023-24

Characteristic	Characteristic split	Classified first degrees (head count)	First class	Upper second class	Lower second class	Third class/pass	Unclassified (head count)	Other undergraduate awards (head count)
Ethnicity	Asian	30	30.8%	53.8%	15.4%	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	Black	40	[DPL]	61.1%	30.6%	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	Mixed	20	20.8%	70.8%	[DPL]	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	Other	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[none]	[low]
	White	170	51.8%	36.7%	9.6%	1.8%	[none]	60
	Unknown	30	15.6%	34.4%	43.8%	[DPL]	[low]	60
EIMD 2025 quintile	1	50	21.2%	50.0%	23.1%	5.8%	[low]	30
	2	90	30.9%	45.7%	20.2%	3.2%	[low]	30
	3	70	39.7%	42.5%	16.4%	[DPL]	[low]	30
	4	40	47.4%	44.7%	7.9%	[DPL]	[none]	30
	5	40	55.6%	36.1%	8.3%	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	N/A	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
	Unknown	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[low]
Sex	Female	170	34.3%	49.4%	14.5%	1.7%	[low]	90
	Male	120	39.0%	37.4%	20.3%	3.3%	[low]	50
	Unknown	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]

Apprenticeship students, first degrees, 2023-24

Characteristic	Characteristic split	Classified first degrees (head count)	First class	Upper second class	Lower second class	Third class/pass
Ethnicity	Asian	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
	Black	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
	Mixed	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
	Other	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
	White	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]
	Unknown	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
EIMD 2025 quintile	1	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]
	2	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
	3	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
	4	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
	5	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
	N/A	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
	Unknown	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
Sex	Female	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]
	Male	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]
	Unknown	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]

Full-time students, first degrees, 2024-25

Characteristic	Characteristic split	Classified first degrees (head count)	First class	Upper second class	Lower second class	Third class/pass	Unclassified (head count)	Other undergraduate awards (head count)
Ethnicity	Asian	80	21.3%	50.7%	24.0%	4.0%	[none]	[low]
	Black	70	18.2%	48.5%	24.2%	9.1%	[none]	[low]
	Mixed	50	20.4%	63.3%	12.2%	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	Other	50	27.5%	41.2%	31.4%	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	White	200	29.7%	42.6%	25.7%	2.0%	[low]	[low]
	Unknown	40	18.4%	36.8%	36.8%	7.9%	[low]	80
EIMD 2025 quintile	1	110	21.5%	44.9%	26.2%	7.5%	[low]	30
	2	180	25.8%	46.2%	25.8%	2.2%	[low]	40
	3	90	25.6%	51.1%	20.0%	3.3%	[none]	[low]
	4	60	29.1%	49.1%	21.8%	[DPL]	[low]	[low]
	5	40	20.5%	34.1%	38.6%	6.8%	[low]	[low]
	N/A	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[none]	[none]
	Unknown	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
Sex	Female	250	23.9%	47.8%	24.3%	4.0%	[low]	50
	Male	230	25.8%	44.5%	26.2%	3.5%	[low]	70
	Unknown	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]

Part-time students, first degrees, 2024-25

Characteristic	Characteristic split	Classified first degrees (head count)	First class	Upper second class	Lower second class	Third class/pass	Unclassified (head count)	Other undergraduate awards (head count)
Ethnicity	Asian	30	25.0%	46.4%	28.6%	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	Black	30	15.2%	36.4%	45.5%	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	Mixed	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[none]	[low]
	Other	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[low]	[none]	[low]
	White	130	44.8%	42.5%	12.7%	[DPL]	[none]	50
	Unknown	20	30.4%	39.1%	30.4%	[DPL]	[low]	40
EIMD 2025 quintile	1	50	30.2%	39.6%	26.4%	[DPL]	[low]	[low]
	2	70	29.2%	47.2%	23.6%	[DPL]	[low]	40
	3	50	38.8%	40.8%	20.4%	[DPL]	[low]	40
	4	40	34.1%	47.7%	15.9%	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	5	30	50.0%	42.9%	[DPL]	[DPL]	[none]	[low]
	N/A	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
	Unknown	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]
Sex	Female	150	37.8%	40.5%	20.9%	[DPL]	[low]	70
	Male	100	30.0%	49.0%	19.0%	[DPL]	[low]	60
	Unknown	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]	[none]

Note: There were no unclassified or other UG award students among 2023-24 apprenticeship qualifiers, and no 2024-25 apprenticeship qualifiers at all at Birkbeck.

Key

[none]: where there are no students in the population (or two or fewer).
[low]: Low numbers of students, where there are more than two but fewer than 23 students in the denominator.
[DPL]: Data protection for low numerators, where data has been suppressed for data protection reasons. The code [DPL] has been used to indicate where the data has been suppressed due to a numerator or head count that is less than or equal to two, meaning that the percentage will take on a value close to 0 per cent.