About
This project examined ‘First in family’ students in higher education, whose parents did not attend university and obtain a degree. We compared their choices, their trajectories and their labour market outcomes.
Principal Investigator
Morag HendersonProject dates
October 2018 – December 2021Funder
Nuffield Foundation – visit the project page on the Nuffield Foundation website.
On this page:
The project aimed to provide the first evidence in England on ‘first in family’ students, using Next Steps, Millennium Cohort Study and Higher Education Statistics Authority data. Making use of advanced statistical methods, the research team identified the differences between ‘first in family’ and ‘non-first in family’ students, to explore the following research questions that informed the widening participation agenda:
VIDEO CASE STUDY
'First in family': Higher education choices and labour market outcomes
In this film the project’s research team discuss their research findings, explaining how ‘first in family’ students navigate the higher education system and labour market compared to those who have graduate parents.
13 July 2022
NEWS
First generation female graduates face economic disadvantage, new report shows
15 December 2021
BLOG
Widening participation in higher education: why it’s important to focus on ‘first generation’ students
4 November 2020
NEWS
First generation university students need more guidance navigating education system
12 August 2020
BLOG
Do ‘first in family’ university students have different university experiences and outcomes?
6 December 2019
Reports
‘First in family’: higher education choices and labour market outcomes
This report summarises research from a study funded by the Nuffield Foundation entitled ‘First in Family’: higher education choices and labour market outcomes’. The project examines how ‘first in family’ students, those whose parents do not have a degree but who go on to achieve one themselves, navigate the higher education system and the labour market compared to their peers.
Is ‘first in family’ a good indicator for widening university participation?
Economics of Education Review, 2020
Moving on up: ‘First in family’ university graduates in England
Oxford Review of Education, 2020
'First in Family' University Graduates in England
IZA Discussion Papers, 2019
Is ‘first in family’ a good indicator for widening university participation?
IZA Discussion Papers, 2019
'First in family': Higher education choices and labour market outcomes
Morag Henderson
Professor of Sociology and Director of Next Steps
Anna Adamecz-Volgyi
Research Fellow in Quantitative Social Science
Nikki Shure
Associate Professor in Economics, UCL Social Research Institute
The researcher used data from the following cohort studies in this project:
Centre for Longitudinal Studies
UCL Social Research Institute
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL
Email: clsdata@ucl.ac.uk
