Elite universities are often believed to represent education's gold standard and to produce highly educated luminaries who rightfully take their places leading all the institutions that matter in societies across the world. We begin by explaining how this is so. Then we discuss what we call monster methodologies, suggesting why and how we employed…

This paper examines the roles of parental social class and cultural capital in inequalities in English school qualifications. The analytical focus is the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Integral to Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction is the conception that inequalities in cultural capital explain the unequal scholastic…

Based on the life and educational histories of sixteen high-achieving, working-class girls applying to high-tariff universities, this paper rekindles debates about the role of agency within the decision-making process of young people who might not otherwise be expected to apply to such institutions. It draws on Margaret Archer's theorising to…

The role of 'class strategies' in policy formation is sometimes unseen as plans are unrealised in practice over long periods of historical time. 'Subterranean class strategies' are an extension of existing work on class to consider 'class work' on policy in the 'long unenacted'. Using the example of emergency feeding in a national crisis, the…

In 2023, the British Academy commissioned 11 members of its Early Career Researcher Network to write about their experiences of life and work in UK higher education. The essay collection shines a light on the voices, perspectives and journeys of early career researchers, poignantly showcasing the realities and challenges faced by researchers at…

International student mobility has been rising as a global phenomenon in the last few decades, while its impact could be various in different contexts. For the European Union (EU), studying in another EU member country could be regarded as an important factor for the solidarity and integrity of the Union. The current study elaborates on the role…

Affect and habitus are used in the paper to harness the intermingling of race and class in the young people's everyday identity practices at school, as they aspire to embody 'Black excellence'. This paper draws on ethnographic data collected with working-class Black-British young people aged between 16 and 18. Through the careful management of…

This paper examines the history of the expansion of educational opportunities in the UK, to understand how different generations of ­working-class students managed to access HE. Based on 23 life-story interviews with working-class students, the study highlights how the changing dynamics of the structure of compulsory education and the labour…

Based on statistical analysis of the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) international student data from 1998 to 2014, we provide the first detailed analysis of UK international doctoral student data (and the gaps therein). We highlight missing and ambiguous data and develop the profiles of these students, with a particular focus on gender,…

Social class inequalities in accessing sport persist across the western world as a result of financial, social and cultural factors. Research to date largely explores how inequalities impact both accessing and practicing sport and physical activity - identifying patterns and differences between social classes but failing to identify the long-term…

The New Education movement was a remarkable coalition of national reform movements that emerged at the turn of the twentieth century. As a heterogeneous movement that was united only in its opposition to the schooling system at the time, its structure and boundaries in the UK have remained a matter of academic debate. This article implements the…

This article aims to deepen understanding of the assets within working-class academics (WCA). It is organised into three themes: 1) Class Solidarity, 2) Supporting Students, and 3) A WCA Pedagogy. Within Class Solidarity, the study reveals class unity demonstrated through shared experiences and joint efforts in creating spaces for working-class…

A literature review published in 2008 outlined known relationships between gender, ethnicity, and academic attainment in UK higher education. In the period since this publication, many changes to the higher education sector have occurred, including raising tuition fees, an increased focus on widening participation, and an increasing interest in…

U.S. studies have found that stratified graduate education accounts for most of the relatively strong intergenerational socioeconomic association among postgraduate degree holders. The same association has been observed, but not explained, in countries with higher education systems that differ from that of the United States. We explore the…

Drawing on data from qualitative interviews with students who had attempted to report staff sexual misconduct to their higher education institutions in the UK, the article analyses interviewees' experiences of 'grooming' and boundary-blurring behaviours from academic staff where the possibility for consent was affected by the power imbalances…