Are universities engines of social mobility?

The evidence might surprise you

Been a really busy week, what with one thing and another. So, I've been guilty of not logging as many Politics Blog entries as normal. For that, I'll try to make amends.

So, looking back at stories that caught my eye this week, one related to social mobility, and in particular the role that universities play (or don't play) in enhancing it.

According to the Guardian:

"Well-known universities, including Exeter, Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge, were found to have done the least to help those from the lowest-income households, in analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that for the first time ranks higher education institutions in England by their contribution to social mobility.

The research comes as the government details new measures that would compel universities in England to improve the performance of local schools and pupils, and to do more to help their graduates find rewarding careers."

Full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/ed...

I appreciate that this isn't a topic on the A Level syllabus, but it does offer the opportunity for discussion in a Politics Society or Politics/Economics (given that there is a lot of cross-over here) Society.

This theme can be explored further by watching an excellent Economist video on the topic (see below)...

And I'd also throw into the mix the work by Friedman and Laurison, and their book, "The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged." - this was a title bought for me as a leaving present by a sixth former, and it contains some knockout facts. For example, see the video clip below. What they reveal is a quite astonishing statistic. Often I get asked for recommendations for books to read by A Level students intent on applying for Economics at university. Well, it very much depends on what field of economics you are particularly interested in. For me, income inequality is of special interest, and that's why this title carries my recommendation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programm...