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The [Universities and Colleges Admissions Service] UCAS personal statement is an important non-academic indicator that many UK universities use as an integral part of their admissions processes. Up to half a million personal statements are written every year. This report is the first to consider how they are shaped by applicants' educational background. Three hundred and nine personal statements were analysed, all of which were submitted to the same department of the same Russell Group university by students with the same [advanced] A-level results. Academic indicators, such as A-level grades, correlate closely with students' school type and socio-economic status. However, non-academic indicators, such as the personal statement, are often assumed to bring greater fairness to university admissions processes. This research challenges that assumption, finding that independent school applicants are more likely to submit statements that are carefully crafted, written in an academically appropriate way, and filled with high status, relevant activities. By contrast, state school applicants appear to receive less help composing their statement, often struggling to draw on suitable work and life experience.

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Drawing on thematic analysis of one-to-one interviews with 85 undergraduate students, this paper offers initial, exploratory analysis of whether known outcome differentials may be partly attributable to students' transition into university. The study is located in the English higher education sector, where fee increases have been accompanied by wider availability of metrics and outcome differentials have become a particular focus of attention. Specifically, this paper examines (in)congruence between students' expectations of higher education and their experience while at university, tracking how recalled pre-arrival expectations correlate with socio-economic status and school type. In the case of students from 'widening participation' (WP) backgrounds, the effect of attendance on an intervention (access) programme is also considered.

Findings point to a complex web of factors influencing the undergraduate experience of students within the same institution. For WP students, the widest gaps arise in relation to pedagogy, as the culture and curricula of higher education are initially found inconsistent with expectations. Intervention programmes make a small positive difference, primarily because social and academic confidence is enhanced. For students educated at independent schools, the widest gaps arise in relation to assessment, for which university-level support and guidance are felt to be less personalised than expected. On a structural level, findings question the reliability of output metrics as proxies for teaching quality given the extent to which they are predicted by students' backgrounds and by the nature of their individual transition into higher education.

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Work experience placements are mandatory in the UK for all young people aged 16-18 in education, and their employability effects and associated wage premia are well noted in the literature. Through Bourdieu's lens, this article analyses and conceptualises a unique data set of reflective testimonies submitted in response to a YouGov survey of over 1,000 young people. Different capitals are detected, their distributions are observed, and correlations with key variables such as social background and school type are reported. Emerging through young people's perceptions of employer engagement is a complex web of human, social and cultural capital accumulation. Overlaps are frequent, with newly acquired forms of capital often activating others. [The authors] argue that because of the cyclical nature of employer engagement gains, benefits accumulate exponentially for some young people while leaving others increasingly detached from the capitals that are most important for labour market success.

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Differentials in UK degree outcomes have been noted for some time, with research showing that not all types of students enjoy comparable levels of attainment, even when prior qualifications are controlled for. This article offers a new perspective by using regression models to examine interactions between the key variables that predict success among around 9000 students at one major UK university in terms of their chances of obtaining a 'good' (upper second or better) degree and a 'first' degree. As in previous studies, gender is found to be significantly influential, with female students' attainment being superior to that of male students. However, significant interactions are noted between gender, ethnicity and socio-economic class indicators. These interactions are integral to developing a better understanding of what happens to equal-attainment students once they reach university, and they allow for a more fine-grained and accurate picture to emerge of the different factors that influence success. We interpret these interactions, along with school type effects, and discuss their potential implications for the ways in which university applicants are selected and university students are taught.

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Capital expenditure at United Kingdom (UK) universities is rapidly rising, with new buildings erected on the premise that national and international competitiveness must be maintained. [The authors] examine students' engagement with and conceptualisation of university estate, and explore broader questions about the extent to which building design can support, and indeed change, students' approaches to learning. Drawing on data collected from 10 staff members and over 200 students at a major UK institution, including detailed one-to-one interviews, [the authors] capture users' often complex interactions with their university environment. [The authors'] findings confirm that when asked what would most improve their learning experience, students do not rank building design highly; interactional factors, such as contact time with staff, are considered more valuable. Our conclusion is that returns on capital investment would be boosted if pedagogical needs were prioritised more highly in the design of university buildings, and pedagogical opportunities communicated more clearly to users upon completion.

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This chapter addresses the difficulties faced by many UK secondary school students in securing meaningful workplace experience in a medical context and which specifically explores job shadowing as an option for resolving this problem. It focuses on the problem identified in the study: inequitable access to periods of work experience of value in progression to highly selective courses of study at elite universities. The chapter seeks to add to a growing literature exploring the issue of equity in employer engagement in education. It reveals a situation whereby links between secondary school students and employees within the National Health Service (NHS) are numerous but are clearly patterned by social relationships which are rooted in social class. In the medical profession, imbalance in the distribution of social capital is compounded by more structural educational inequality, such as universities offering places only to students with demonstrable workplace experience.

Abstract from publisher's website.

The volume from which this chapter is taken is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 133.717. Show less