15th May 2014 9:00
By Blue Tutors
New research suggests that the UK’s top universities are failing students from disadvantaged backgrounds by failing to help them during and after their studies. The research, conducted by the thinktank CentreForum, shows that whilst universities are working at recruiting students from poorer backgrounds, they are not focussing on what happens to them after the graduate. The report argues that post-graduation employment prospects have fallen by the wayside whilst universities focus on pressure from the government to address university recruitment. The thinktank used a social mobility index to show what happened to disadvantaged students after the graduated, and demonstrated that, other than the School Of Pharmacy, no Russell Group University appeared in the top 20 of universities in helping students gain social mobility.
The results showed that students from disadvantaged backgrounds continue to be disadvantaged despite gaining entry to top universities, with background significantly affecting their employment after university. The report concluded that both in terms of university performance and employment outcomes, students from disadvantaged backgrounds has significantly lower success rates than those from more affluent backgrounds. Notably, the report also showed that the most academically selective institutions are way behind less prestigious universities in offering students the best prospects after they graduate. The Russell Group of top UK universities has come under fire for not continuing to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds after they have been recruited to university.
The Russell Group has responded to the report saying that they reject the findings, and questioned the methodology used to compile the report. They pointed out that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are far more likely to attend Russell Group universities than other institutions, a fact which significantly skews the results. They highlighted that the report only examined employment after 6 months of graduation, and did not apply significant weight to those students who undertook post-graduate study. In their response, the Russell Group said that students who attended Russell Group universities earned on average 24% more than other graduates, and were favoured by 9 out of 10 top graduate employers. CentreForum maintains that, although students from the Russell group had over all better prospects, the universities were not doing enough to specifically help their students from disadvantaged backgrounds make the most of the opportunities available to them.