A NORTH-EAST university has rejected claims that it is the easiest place to get a first-class degree.

The University of Sunderland was reacting to research published by The Times Higher Education Supplement, which claimed yesterday that students could obtain first-class degrees with average marks of just over 50 per cent.

The study, which exposes the "shocking" differences in the way universities calculate degree classifications, found that it was easiest to get a first from Sunderland University, where students could get a first with a minimum average mark of just 50.8 per cent across their full course.

Students at the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE) can get a first with an average mark of 53 per cent, according to a paper from London Metropolitan University.

The differences are such that marks that would earn an LSE student a first would be worth only an upper second-class degree at the LSE's Russell Group rival, Nottingham, according to the report.

The research comes as a Government-backed taskforce prepares to unveil proposals to reform current degree classifications.

But a University of Sunderland spokesman said last night: "Universities use different models of classification. We base our classification on the highest standard of learning outcomes - that is, without doubt, level three.

"What is being suggested has certainly never happened at Sunderland.

"The idea that a student could record marks of 40 per cent in all level two modules, then achieve three 70s and two high 60s in level three is simply not going to happen."