Returning To Learning: Gender, Ethnicity And Re-Entry Into Postgraduate Study

Author(s):

Neil Harrison(presenting / submitting)Steve D'Aguiar

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 09 B, Student Transitions and Graduate Employability

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-04

11:00-12:30

Room:

B021 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Caroline Berggren

Contribution

The graduate labour market in the UK is becoming increasingly congested, with a growing throughput of students chasing a largely stagnant pool of opportunities – especially since the global financial crisis. This ‘opportunity trap’ (Brown 2003) has been such that even high-achieving graduates have been unable secure employment at a level that matches their academic results or perceived employment potential (Smetherham 2006).

One effect has been the reclassification of jobs as ‘graduate’ as become populated by those who have been unable obtain traditional graduate roles (Chevalier and Lindley 2009). Another has been that graduates have felt compelled to increase their qualifications in order to accrue, accredit or demonstrate the ‘work-related skills’ that are valued by employers, especially where they felt that they underperformed in their first degree (Tomlinson 2008; Brooks and Everett 2009).

There are persistent questions about who wins and who loses within this marketplace and which factors might determine behaviour and outcomes. This paper will address one component of this issue, by looking at those individuals who seek to enter the graduate labour market, but who return to higher education within three years to increase their qualifications.

The primary research question was therefore to distinguish between 'leavers' (those who were in work six months after graduation and did not re-enter higher education within three years) and 'returners' (those who were in work after six months, but who subsequently re-entered higher education on a taught postgraduate course). Specifically, the following research questions were addressed:

1. How do the populations of returners and leavers contrast across (a) occupation after six months, (b) gender, (c) age, (d) ethnicity, (e) undergraduate degree classification, (f) undergraduate degree subject, (g) whether they undertook a sandwich placement, and (h) status of university at which their undergraduate degree was undertaken?

2. Which of these factors are significantly associated with the likelihood of a return to taught postgraduate study, once other factors are held constant?

3. What can be inferred about the nature of the graduate labour market and the perceptions of people entering it?

Method

This paper will report the findings of a quantitative study using data drawn from the national Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) surveys, which take place in the UK at six months and three-and-a-half years after graduation. Specifically, it focuses on a representative sample of 22,207 individuals who graduated in 2007 and who were active in the labour market six months later. Of these, 11% returned to taught postgraduate study at some point prior to 2010, when the second survey was undertaken. From this large secondary dataset, a range of potential predictor variables for graduates' behaviour were isolated (listed in the research questions above). The study then used binary logistic regression analysis to examine which factors determined whether an individual became a ‘returner’ (i.e. enrolled for postgraduate study after a period in the labour market) or a ‘leaver’ (i.e. remained within the labour market).

Expected Outcomes

The factors found to have a statistically significant role in determining whether a graduate became a 'returner' were gender, ethnicity, subject, sandwich study, degree classification, university status and status of initial employment. 'Returners' were more likely to be from high status universities and to hold a highly classed degree, but to have been in low-status work after six months. Those graduates who had undertaken a sandwich year were much less likely to return, as were those with science degrees. In particular, this study suggests that women and people from minority ethnic communities are disproportionately likely to ‘return’ when other factors are held constant. Drawing on literature on structural inequalities (e.g. Moreau and Leathwood 2006), discussion will focus on this finding in the context of high educational demand from these groups, ongoing concerns about discrimination and the nature of competition within the ‘opportunity trap’, providing some questions for employers, universities and government.

References

Brooks, R. and G. Everett. 2009. “Post-graduation reflections on the value of a degree.” British Educational Research Journal 35 (3): 333-349. Brown, P. 2003. The opportunity trap: education and employment in a global economy. European Educational Research Journal, 2(1), 141-179. Chevalier, A. and J. Lindley. 2009. “Overeducation and the skills of UK graduates.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, Statistics in Society 172 (2): 307-337. Moureau, M. and C. Leathwood. 2006. “Graduates' employment and the discourse of employability: a critical analysis.” Journal of Education and Work 19 (4): 305-324. Smetherham, C. 2006. “Firsts among equals? Evidence on the contemporary relationship between educational credentials and the occupational structure.” Journal of Education and Work 19 (1): 29-45. Tomlinson, M. 2008. “‘The degree is not enough’: students’ perceptions of the role of higher education credentials for graduate work and employability.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 29 (1): 49 – 61.

Author Information

Neil Harrison (presenting / submitting)

University of the West of England, United Kingdom

Steve D'Aguiar