Podcast: First in my family

Last updated on Friday 10 Oct 2025 at 10:19am

What's it like to go to university when you're the first in your family?

In this episode of The future of higher education today, we speak to PhD student Amy to hear about the barriers she faced, and what would have helped her university experience. We also chat to Chris Hale and Dan Hurley about the policies that help and hinder students like Amy.

Episode guests

Hosted by Lauren Harper, Senior Digital Producer at Universities UK.

Amy smiling and standing in front of a brick wall

Amy Solman, PhD student, Queen Mary University of London

Chris smiling in front of a leafy background

Chris Hale, former Director of Policy, Universities UK

Dan smiling

Dan Hurley, Policy Manager, Universities UK

Resources

Transcript

Download a transcript of this show (pdf).

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