A report by the Economic and Social Research Council and the National Coordinating
Centre for Public Engagement reviews what is currently known about widening participation from undergraduate to postgraduate research degrees. The report also highlights the gaps in knowledge and makes eight recommendations for further research.
Key findings:
- Although socioeconomic class has no direct effect on immediate progression to postgraduate research once academic factors are taken into account, it may have an impact on later entry to postgraduate research.
- Access to financial resources is a factor affecting access to postgraduate research degrees.
- In terms of distribution across subject areas and institutions, postgraduate research students and undergraduates are very differently distributed. Research students are overwhelmingly concentrated in pre 1992 universities.
- Attending a selective university as an undergraduate has a positive influence on progression to postgraduate research.
- There is no initial participation rate statistic for postgraduate research. Such a statistic could be analysed according to the indicators discussed in this review.
The full report is available on the ESRC website.