"HYPERTROPHY OF GOOD GRADES." One of the finest ways of describing grade inflation I have seen. According to an article in Die Zeit, grade inflation is growing in German universities. [Wait a minute: can inflation "grow" in english?] The article discusses the recently released report on university grades from the "Wissenschaftsrat," an advisory body whose members are nominated by the German President and by prominent scientific organizations. You can see their website here. The report is not out in english, however.

Reasons for the grade inflation? Several candidates: 1) The quality of work done at universities is in fact high. 2) Professors feel bad for students who won't be able to find jobs in certain fields (like history, I gather from the article). 3) And professors and students work together on major assignments, so expectations are fairly clear and students are able to meet them.

"Hypertrophy of Good Grades." HGG. Has a certain ring to it. Not quite as slick as Yale's "upward grade homogenization" (or, as I like to call it in pure bureaucratese, UGH), of course.