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Understanding and addressing socioeconomic participation gaps in Higher Education in England

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Martin

    (Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, UCL Institute of Education, University College London)

Abstract

The proportion of English school or college leavers who progress into HE has been increasing steadily over many decades (Crawford et al., 2016; Smith, 2018) and figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that HE participation continued to increase in 2020 and 2021 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic (UCAS, 2021a). More recently, UCAS has reported slight drops in application and acceptance figures for the 2022 and 2023 application cycles (UCAS, 2023), however any reduction in demand for HE during the remainder of the 2020s is likely to be at least offset by increasing numbers of 18 year olds within the population (Drayton et al., 2023). It is crucial that all young people, irrespective of their socioeconomic background, have a fair chance to access HE. If young people from poorer backgrounds are less able to access HE, this risks leading to the reproduction of inequalities across generations given that graduates earn more on average than their non-graduate counterparts (Britton et al., 2020), and also on average enjoy better health outcomes, longer life expectancies, a greater likelihood of civic engagement and a reduced likelihood of committing crime (Brennan et al., 2013).

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Martin, 2024. "Understanding and addressing socioeconomic participation gaps in Higher Education in England," CEPEO Briefing Note Series 29, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Apr 2024.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucl:cepeob:29
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    File URL: https://repec-cepeo.ucl.ac.uk/cepeob/cepeobn29.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    higher education; widening participation;

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

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