IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i1p393-d1311799.html

Whether Socioeconomic Status Matters in Accessing Residential College: Role of RC in Addressing Academic Achievement Gaps to Ensure Sustainable Education

Author

Listed:
  • Pingping Gui

    (Center for Faculty Development, Sias University, Xinzheng 451150, China
    Department of Foundation of Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Gazi Mahabubul Alam

    (Department of Foundation of Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Aminuddin Bin Hassan

    (Department of Foundation of Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

Abstract

Following the fourth objective of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), education disparities are one of the most serious issues holding back national development. Despite efforts being made to tackle this discrepancy, it has long been a source of concern for many communities. It is important to note that residential colleges (RCs) have evolved and contributed to higher education for several decades now, aiming to provide an equal and inclusive living and learning environment. Having said that, while disparity is still one of the most challenging issues in this system, it has not been fully examined. Using stratified random sampling on RC students’ data from undergraduate universities piloting RC programs up to 2018 in different parts of China, this study examines the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on RC access. The study further explores the difference in academic achievement among RC students from diverse SES backgrounds and comprehensively analyzes the impact of RC on sustainable education. The study finds that disparities exist in accessing RC for individuals from varied SES backgrounds. However, RC mitigates the influence of SES on academic achievement to curtail these differences. The findings imply that ensuring access to RC for individuals from underprivileged SES backgrounds should be prioritized to address education-disparity-related challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Pingping Gui & Gazi Mahabubul Alam & Aminuddin Bin Hassan, 2024. "Whether Socioeconomic Status Matters in Accessing Residential College: Role of RC in Addressing Academic Achievement Gaps to Ensure Sustainable Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:1:p:393-:d:1311799
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/393/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/393/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gazi Mahabubul Alam & Md. Abdur Rahman Forhad, 2023. "The Impact of Accessing Education via Smartphone Technology on Education Disparity—A Sustainable Education Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-14, July.
    2. Simon Marginson, 2016. "High Participation Systems of Higher Education," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 87(2), pages 243-271, March.
    3. Abhilasha Singh & Patrick Blessinger, 2023. "Examining the Role and Challenges of Sustainable Development Goals for the Universities in the United Arab Emirates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Marginson, Simon, 2018. "Higher education, economic inequality and social mobility: Implications for emerging East Asia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 4-11.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pingping Gui & Gazi Mahabubul Alam, 2024. "Do Chinese Residential Colleges Narrow the Education Disparity Caused by Socioeconomic Status? A Comparison of Public and Private Universities Using Two Main Approaches to Assess Disparities in Access and Academic Attainment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Zhang, Nan & Fan, Hongmin, 2024. "The intergenerational mobility effects of higher education expansion in China," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    3. Simson, Rebecca & Harris, J. Andrew, 2022. "Diversity and liberalisation reforms: Evidence from the University of Nairobi," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Simson, Rebecca, 2021. "Regional inequality in university attainment in seven African countries since 1960," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    5. Chen, Chen & Frank, Vanclay, 2020. "University social responsibility in the context of economic displacement from the proposed upgrading of a higher education institution: The case of the University of Groningen Yantai campus," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Jin Jiang & Hon-Kwong Lui, 2025. "Lifetime Earnings Premium of Higher Education: Evidence from the 40-Year Career of the 1951–1955 Birth Cohort in Hong Kong," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 66(3), pages 1-20, May.
    7. Asuamah Yeboah, Samuel & Antwi Boasiako, Ama, 2024. "Beyond the Classroom: Quality Assurance in Developing Nations," MPRA Paper 122486, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 13 Oct 2024.
    8. Pingping Gui & Gazi Mahabubul Alam & Ciro Troise & Stefano Bresciani, 2026. "Residential Colleges as Equalizers for Sustainable Development? Examining Impacts on Sustainable Education and Equity Across Gender and SES," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(S1), pages 264-276, January.
    9. Sandra Baroudi & Hounaida Abi Haidar, 2025. "Sustainability in the United Arab Emirates Secondary Schools: A Policy Practice Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-21, April.
    10. Silke L. Schneider, 2022. "The classification of education in surveys: a generalized framework for ex-post harmonization," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1829-1866, June.
    11. Marie-Agnès Détourbe & Gaële Goastellec, 2018. "Revisiting the Issues of Access to Higher Education and Social Stratification through the Case of Refugees: A Comparative Study of Spaces of Opportunity for Refugee Students in Germany and England," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-20, October.
    12. Francis Green & Golo Henseke, 2021. "Europe’s evolving graduate labour markets: supply, demand, underemployment and pay," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 55(1), pages 1-13, December.
    13. Syeda Mubashira Batool & Zhimin Liu, 2021. "Exploring the relationships between socio-economic indicators and student enrollment in higher education institutions of Pakistan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Duryea, Suzanne & Ribas, Rafael P. & Sampaio, Breno & Sampaio, Gustavo R. & Trevisan, Giuseppe, 2023. "Who benefits from tuition-free, top-quality universities? Evidence from Brazil," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    15. Facchini, Marta & Triventi, Moris & Vergolini, Loris, 2019. "Do Grants Improve the Outcomes of University Students in a Context with High Dropout Rates? Evidence from a Matching Approach," SocArXiv k3gwv, Center for Open Science.
    16. Shu Wang & Xiao Yu & Kuo Zhang & Jipeng Pei & Karlis Rokpelnis & Xuelong Wang, 2022. "How does education affect intergenerational income mobility in Chinese society?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 774-792, May.
    17. Lawal O. Yesufu, 2018. "Motives and Measures of Higher Education Internationalisation: A Case Study of a Canadian University," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 7(2), pages 155-155, April.
    18. Wang, Dong & Wang, Ziwei & Zong, Xiaohua, 2023. "Impact of economic policy uncertainty on higher education expansion," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    19. Jacob, W. James & Mok, Ka Ho & Cheng, Sheng Yao & Xiong, Weiyan, 2018. "Changes in Chinese higher education: Financial trends in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 64-85.
    20. Pierre Canisius Kamanzi & Gaële Goastellec & Laurence Pelletier, 2021. "Mass University and Social Inclusion: The Paradoxical Effect of Public Policies," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 32-43.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:1:p:393-:d:1311799. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.