The Higher Education Policy Institute’s latest
report, First-in-Family Students by Harriet Coombs,
finds most university students in the UK – just over two-thirds –
can be classified ‘first-in-family’. It questions how useful the
category is as an indicator for widening participation
activities.
The paper argues too much weight has been put on first-in-family
status as a measure of disadvantage for admissions to higher
education because the indicator has many different definitions,
is self-declared and unverifiable. There is also a lack of
transparency over how it is applied.
The new report therefore recommends that only a tightly drawn
first-in-family indicator should be used and, even then, only for
lower stakes widening participation activities. For higher stakes
activities, such as contextual offers at highly selective
universities, it should be used only as part of a basket of
measures.
The paper confirms that, on some issues, there are notable
differences between first-in-family students and other students.
For example, they are less likely to attend a Russell Group
university and they are less likely not to complete their degree.
But despite this, the research shows the first-in-family category
has a number of shortcomings that limit its value.
For instance, it applies disproportionately to people from Black
and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, who are actually more likely to
access higher education than White young people. Moreover,
evidence from the UK and abroad shows some first-in-family
students enter higher education with a lot of social capital
while many other students face significant challenges of their
own. Other indicators, like entitlement to Free School Meals,
capture people’s true level of disadvantage more accurately.
The report includes several recommendations for institutions and
policymakers, including:
- using a basket of measures when implementing contextualised
admissions;
- delivering outreach for the parents of groups that are
under-represented in higher education; and
- providing student mentors for first-year undergraduates to
help them build networks.
, Director of the Higher
Education Policy Institute, said:
‘This research has changed my thinking on “first-in-family”
students. It is a description of majority status that has been
masquerading as a description of minority status. Moreover, there
is no reliable way to verify if someone is the first person in
their family to attend university, meaning anyone can claim to be
first-in-family whether they are or not. And there is no single
standard definition of the term anyway.
‘The weight that has been put on “first-in-family” status has
been matched by a lack of transparency in how it is used across
highly selective universities in their recruitment.
‘We must avoid putting too much focus on an unreliable indicator
and too little on other measures. In future, we should use
first-in-family only as a light-touch indicator for disadvantage
because it is so flawed, while putting more emphasis on better
measures like Free School Meal status. At the same time, we
should be utterly transparent about how such information is being
used.
‘The new year brings a new Director for Fair Access and
Participation in John Blake. It is vital he engages with the rich
and growing evidence base on how best to help under-represented
groups if he is to deliver the difference he needs to make.’
Harriet Coombs, the author of the report and a recent
History graduate from the University of Bristol, said:
‘Many first-generation students have succeeded in making it to
high-status universities. They are generally ambitious and want
to give back to their families and communities. Yet, on average,
they are more likely than their peers to drop out and often face
challenging transitions to higher education.
‘The first-in-family problem is, at root, a fair access one
rather than a widening participation one. In the UK,
first-generation students are entering higher education in large
numbers. In other words, the bigger problem is not getting more
first-in-family students into higher education, but rather
getting more first-in-family students into highly selective
institutions. Further to this, highly selective universities now
need to ensure they retain first-generation students as well as
just recruit them.’
Notes for Editors
- Harriet Coombs is a History graduate from the University of
Bristol. She is a member of the University of Bristol’s
First-Generation Network of Scholars and a mentor for
first-in-family undergraduates. She undertook an internship at
HEPI in 2021.
- HEPI was established in 2002 to influence the higher
education debate with evidence. We are UK-wide, independent and
non-partisan. We are funded by organisations and universities
that wish to see a vibrant higher education debate, as well as
through our own events. HEPI is a company limited by guarantee
and a registered charity.
