I'm sure many degree programs in the US are inflated, but it wasn't my experience in the US where engineering professors brag about how many students they failed that semester. "You only had 1/3rd your class drop? You must be getting soft." I had AP Calculus in High School (took school seriously) and had to give 110% to pass engineering school. I never partied and basically lived in study hall. Not everyone has to put in that much effort, but I never ever felt grades were being inflated to pass us. When the highest grade on a test is a 42 from a classmate that could probably build a teleporter in their garage, you know things are tough. When we used to have to take required non-engineering courses like history and psyche, most of us felt like we were teleported back over a decade to junior high as the classes were such a joke. So the specialized classes and degrees can be astonishingly challenging, while the generic courses everyone has to take are almost remedial.