Universities should scrap the system of awarding first and second class degrees and adopt a more consistent measure of quality, says a higher education watchdog.

The Quality Assurance Agency's head, John Randall, says that there are too many variations in how universities evaluate first, second and third class degrees, and that the categories are too wide.

In particular, there are concerns that there are so many students receiving upper second class degrees that there needs to be a more precise way of measuring ability.

But in the short term, the standards watchdog has drawn up "benchmarks" for 22 subjects, setting out what students should gain from a particular course.

These new measures, expected to be introduced in 2002, are also intended to help students make better-informed choices about which courses to take.

The idea was one of the recommendations of Sir Ron Dearing's inquiry into higher education, published almost three years ago.

Academics from each discipline - 350 altogether - have agreed the statements for their areas of expertise, working to a common framework.

They have come up with detailed specifications. For example, a chartered engineer should, among other things:

• be creative and innovative
• use mathematics as a tool for solving complex problems
• use laboratory and workshop equipment to generate valuable data.

A typical honours graduate in tourism would

• be able to explain the patterns and characteristics of tourism demand
• understand the ways in which tourists behave at destinations
• understand the cultural significance of tourism for the tourists and their societies.

The skills acquired from a general business and management course should enable someone to

• identify assumptions, evaluate statements in terms of evidence, to detect false logic or reasoning, to identify implicit values, to define terms adequately and generalise appropriately.

Speaking at the launch of the new statements in London, Education Minister Baroness Blackstone said: "Students in higher education are entitled to the best possible opportunities, the highest quality teaching and learning, rigorous assessment and a challenging curriculum.

"They need to know that they are getting value for money and that they are guaranteed a high quality course.

'Prepared for work'

"They will be able to use the benchmarks to make an informed choice about their degree and their subsequent employability.

"Employers need to know about the skills and knowledge of the graduates they propose to employ - what they have studied and the standards they can expect of them.

"Making standards explicit is a key part of ensuring that graduates are prepared for the world of work."

She said it was important that employers told higher education what they needed from graduates, and she hoped they would help the quality agency develop future benchmarks.

"We have a worldwide reputation for excellence in higher education. But we cannot rest on our achievements, nor be complacent in our success," she added.