On that basis Airbus38, my ten O Levels (sat over 25 years ago) must be like having ten A Levels now!!!
It's certainly true about the standards. When I was doing A Levels, the standard "offer" from an Oxbridge College would be 3 'A's at A Level. Only the seriously bright (and swotty) children could manage 4 A Levels. Now, 5 or 6 A Levels is reasonably common and Oxbridge now require 5 'A's at A Level.
And I don't think Oxford or Cambridge have got harder to get into!!
I did read somewhere that if you wanted to use your ATPL exams passes as a qualification to go on to higher education (i.e. a degree), that the OU would consider the qualification to be on an academic par with first year degree thereby exempting you a year if you wanted to do a relevant degree to aviation.
If you do need to know equivalence for higher education reasons, then you would need to discuss that with the university or college concerned.
Cheers
Whirls