International student mobility (ISM) prepares young people for the challenges of global and multicultural environments. However, disadvantaged students have lower participation rates in mobility schemes and, hence, benefit less from their positive impacts on career progression. Therefore, policymakers aim to make mobility programs more inclusive.…

Sense of belonging is a fundamental human motivation and, in higher education settings, has been associated with students' motivation and academic outcomes. However, less is known about the nuances of how students define belonging within a university context, and how their gendered and socio-economic identity-based experiences inform these…

Engineering is a large and diverse sector which is vital for the UK economy. It represents a considerable proportion of the UK workforce, with 18% of the UK working population based in engineering and at least 15% of the working population in every region in jobs that relate to the sector. Engineering also has a relatively strong reputation for…

Purpose: The primary aim of this paper is to illuminate the critical issue of the degree awarding gap in the UK, which significantly impacts students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and minority groups. By conducting a systematic review of existing literature following the PRISMA protocol, this study seeks to uncover the complex web of…

In recent years, English-language voluntourism (EVT) has grown in popularity, with many conceptualizing it as a form of cultural exchange between English speaking volunteers and members of a non-English speaking host community. This article explores relationships between and within volunteers and host groups of an EVT program in Lima, Peru. Using…

High-quality, centre-based education and care during the early years benefit cognitive development, especially in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. During the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns, access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) was disrupted. We investigate how this period affected the developmental advantages…

This article explores the sustained impact of an Access module on mature students from disadvantaged backgrounds as they progress to undergraduate study. Framed in the context of OfS concerns about attrition and conceptualisation of dispositional, situational and institutional barriers, student survey and tutor focus group data were collected in a…

When it comes to social mobility, the goalposts are always moving. As access to any given level of education becomes more common, inequalities tend to move upwards, with those from better-off backgrounds seeking to keep their advantages. While access to undergraduate degrees has been improving, with more and more young people going onto…

As the United Kingdom (UK) labour market faces challenges on multiple fronts, the Further Education (FE) sector is identified as a potential source of solutions, alongside Higher Education (HE). The FE sector has an important role to play in social mobility. Young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds are much more likely to undertake further…

This article aims to examine alternative explanations of social disadvantage on the university-to-work transition experiences of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students. 'Becoming employable' during the university-to-work transition is reflected in three ways: students' cognition/patterns of thinking (i.e. perceived…

Historically, much of the focus of universities, policymakers and governments on higher education's impact on social mobility has been on disadvantaged students' access or admission to university, while focus on such students' successful participation and attainment is growing. The third phase beyond access and participation -- disadvantaged…

This report looks at the scale of the gender pay gap between male and female graduates and the factors that may influence this. It finds the overall graduate gender pay gap is not wholly accounted for by subject of study, type of university attended, prior attainment, social background or ethnicity. It also explores differences in approaches and…

Background: Well-documented associations exist between socio-economic background and language ability in early childhood, and between educational attainment and language ability in children with clinically referred language impairment. However, very little research has looked at the associations between language ability, educational attainment and…

The higher education quality evaluation and assurance frameworks and their operating mechanisms of countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and the United States show that higher education systems, traditional culture, and social background all impact quality assurance operating mechanisms. A model analysis of these higher education quality…

A recent UK Government commissioned study found concerning levels of unemployment among computing students from disadvantaged, black and minority ethnic backgrounds. The study highlighted that work experience was a factor in increased levels of graduate employment. As such, it is vital that students have equal access to such work experience. This…