How can higher education better deliver on social mobility?

The evidence is clear that higher education remains a powerful tool for social mobility. Graduates reap the rewards of going to university for the rest of their lives with higher levels of employment and pay, better living standards, and more. Future workforce demands also mean that we need to draw on the talent and potential across the country, harnessing the increase in productivity that comes with a higher proportion of graduates to drive inclusive economic growth for the whole nation.

University can be particularly transformative for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. Yet too few are able to benefit from the opportunities that higher education offers, with those from the poorest backgrounds still less likely to go to university and earn as much as their more advantaged peers. 

UUK’s action plan 'Access to success: universities’ action plan to break down barriers to opportunity' sets out four shared actions for universities and the government to better support all learners, regardless of background, to access and succeed in higher education.

Going to university is the chance for independence, expanding horizons, pursuing passions and meeting people from different walks of life.  

Graduates reap benefits for the rest of their lives, including improved general health, a better ability to deal with distress and being less likely to commit crime. Going to university also helps individuals develop valuable skills for employment, significantly boosting their earnings potential. Our analysis shows that by age 31, graduates typically earn 37% more than their contemporaries who held the right qualifications to enter higher education but opted to seek employment instead.  

This means that university can be a powerful tool for social mobility. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds can particularly benefit from going to university. When comparing the earnings of people who were eligible for free school meals (FSM) at age 15 or 16, graduates earned £41,400 more than FSM non-graduates between the ages of 23 and 31. This difference, observed after graduation and entry into the labour market, more than offsets the initial 'head start' gained by those who went into employment instead of attending university. 

Figure 1 - UUK analysis of average earnings for FSM graduates and non-graduates

Going to university can allow students from deprived backgrounds to overtake those who had a more privileged start in life, with FSM graduates earning more than those who went to a private school but didn’t attend university. The graph below shows that a higher percentage of FSM students who go on to attend university are in the highest quintile for earnings by age 30 than privately educated students who did not attend university. Furthermore, we can see that a lower percentage of students from FSM backgrounds who attended university are in the bottom quintile for earnings than privately educated students who did not attend university. 

Figure 2 - Analysis of the proportion in each income quintile at age 30, by socio-economic background (Non-graduates)

Figure 3 - Analysis of the proportion in each income quintile at age 30, by socio-economic background (Graduates)

Going to university not only transforms lives but also has wider impacts on the nation’s economy. London Economics research shows that on average, a UK first degree graduate contributes £75,000 more to the Exchequer across their lifetime compared to someone who could have gone to university and chose not to. This research analysed the labour market benefits generated by the impact of the sector’s teaching and learning activities on the UK’s human capital and productivity, with an estimated aggregate economic benefit of the UK higher education sector’s teaching and learning activities to be £95 billion per cohort. 

Helping more students from FSM backgrounds attend university will therefore benefit the entire UK economy, not just the individuals themselves. Increasing the number of graduates is needed to power future growth, with occupations requiring higher education and interpersonal skills expected to see the most employment growth by 2035.

Over the past two decades, universities have worked hard to widen access to higher education, so that more people from a diversity of backgrounds can benefit from the opportunities that going to university offers. However, although the benefits of going to university, particularly for disadvantaged people, can be substantial, we know that still too few people from these backgrounds can reach university in the first place and, if they do, many don’t achieve the same outcomes as their more privileged peers.   

While there has been an increase in the participation rate of FSM students over time (increasing from 14.2% in 2005/06 to 29.0% in 2022/23), the gap in participation in higher education between those eligible for FSM and others has remained remarkably consistent over the past 20 years despite sector efforts. Worryingly, the gap has widened in recent years, rising to its highest recorded level at 20.8 percentage points in 2022/23. 

Figure 4 - Department for Education data of higher education participation rate gap between pupils eligible for FSM and others

 Across all three metrics of rates of continuation to the next year of a degree, completion of degree, and progression one-year post-degree to positive outcomes (work, further study or other), FSM students fall behind their non-FSM counterparts.  

Figure 5 - OfS data of student outcomes by FSM status

The stark gap between FSM people and others across the whole student lifecycle, from access to completion and progression, clearly demonstrates the need for more work to be done to support disadvantaged learners to access and succeed in higher education and beyond.  

To address this challenge, Universities UK has developed an action plan with four shared actions that universities and the government can deliver to break down barriers to opportunity to ensure that learners, regardless of background, are supported to access and succeed in higher education. For those from disadvantaged backgrounds, these shifts can make a particular difference. 

While there remain substantial challenges to ensuring that all with the desire and ability to benefit from higher education are able to do so, with the stakes so high for individuals and the country, we can’t afford not to rise to the challenge.