Home and Away: Social, Ethnic and Spatial Inequalities in Student Mobility

The research reported here is part of a larger programme of work addressing the spatial and social mobilities of higher education students in the UK, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (award no. ES/N002121/1). In this report, the authors present new findings on the extent and nature of student mobility in the UK, examining who leaves home and who doesn't, as well as how far different groups travel. Entering university has long been seen as a rite of passage, which in the UK is imagined as a time when many young people will gain independence by living a significance distance away from home for the first time. Using very detailed data containing information on all students entering university in 2009-10 and 2014-15, the authors test how true this idea is in contemporary British higher education. Importantly, they examine the extent to which rising tuition fees, especially the increase to over £9,000 seen in most parts of the UK, has affected trends in the movement of students. Contrary to popular opinion, the study finds that most young people stay relatively local for university. Over 50% of students in both years entered university less than 91 km (57 miles) away from home. It is only a minority of students who move out of home and far away. However, there are important disparities between different groups in the chances they will leave home and the distance they travel. These social, ethnic and spatial inequalities in student mobility are examined in detail, together with their wider significance and policy implications. The report begins with a review of past research on student mobility in the UK, including both quantitative and qualitative studies into the extent, nature and explanations for different mobility patterns. After outlining the data-sets and methods of analyses used, the authors present a typology of six different types of student mobility which is qualified further according to students' social class, ethnicity, and geographic location. To help understand the factors driving students to opt for a given type of mobility, a series of six models is presented. Key findings from this modelling, as well as their significance and wider implications for policy are explained in the final section. [This report was co-produced by the University of Bath.]