The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) is today publishing
a new paper, Designing an English Social Mobility
Index (HEPI Debate Paper 27), which offers a methodology
for comparing the contribution of individual English higher
education providers’ to social mobility.
The Index challenges the often-made assumption that only
particular kinds of universities make a substantial impact on
social mobility, highlighting that, in the context of their
individual missions, all types of institution – from research
intensives to modern technical universities – can, and do, make a
substantial contribution to social mobility.
The English SMI, which learns from a well-respected comparable
indicator in the United States, takes account both of the numbers
of affected students and their ‘distance travelled’ using
existing data such as the Index of Multiple Deprivation.
In the report, Professor David Phoenix, Vice-Chancellor of London
South Bank University (LSBU), calls on universities in England to
use the SMI to reflect on how, in the context of their own
institutional missions, they can have the most impact on the
social mobility of their graduates. He calls on the Government to
invest in institutions that have high returns in their approach
to social mobility.
Professor David Phoenix, author of the report,
said:
‘Existing university league tables perpetuate a self-fulfilling
cycle of behaviour which compounds social advantage - with
institutions with the highest entry tariffs admitting students
from the most privileged backgrounds who then inevitably go on to
command the highest salaries.
‘The English SMI is an attempt to highlight, instead, the value
that universities make to social mobility by showing the distance
– academically and economically – they help their students to
travel.
‘The results of the Index reflect the diversity of our higher
education sector. Some institutions admit moderate numbers of
students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and enable these
individuals to achieve significant social mobility. Others accept
many more of these students and, while not moving them as far,
make a very substantial cumulative contribution. This model
provides a mechanism for institutions to explore how best to
effect social mobility within the context of their own strengths
and mission.’
, the Director of HEPI and the author of the Foreword
to the report, said:
‘It is often said that existing university rankings should cease
because they convey an incomplete picture. This is exactly the
wrong way around. We need instead to enrich our understanding of
higher education institutions by looking at a bigger range of
indicators.
‘The new English Social Mobility Index shows what can be
achieved. It recognises institutions’ success in boosting the
outcomes of a high proportion of students and also those
institutions that push a smaller proportion of students a further
distance.
‘The results shake up the typical league-table order and we hope
they will prompt an important debate about how we evaluate the
different missions of different institutions.’
The report:
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shows the ten universities making the most
significant contribution to social mobility are:
1. The University of Bradford
2. Aston University
3. Queen Mary, University of London
4. Birkbeck, University of London
5. Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
6. London South Bank University
7. City University
8. Newman University
9. King’s College London
10. The University of Wolverhampton
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explains the current focus on judging
universities by the salaries of their graduates fails to take
into account individuals’ personal circumstances and how far
they have travelled; and
-
recommends universities use the SMI to reflect
on their own contributions to social mobility – the measure
should be promoted as an antidote to the detrimental pressure
of other league tables and the Government should consider the
outputs of this new measure when setting policy, including
consideration of investing in those institutions which
demonstrate high returns in their approach to social mobility.
