Politics Home Article | We must focus on widening access to postgraduate degrees

There is less focus on the next frontier of access and opportunity: postgraduate study (Alamy)

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At the same time, a skilled workforce is vital to achieve the government’s goal of sustainable economic growth. To achieve both of these goals, universities are vital partners, not only providing the graduates we need to grow our economy and transform our public services but also providing life-changing opportunities and experiences for students of all backgrounds.

But when we talk about access to higher education, our focus is normally on 18-year-olds taking an undergraduate degree. There has been steady progress in diversifying those who do so, especially for historically under-represented groups like care-leavers and students from low-income backgrounds. The University of Liverpool, where I completed my first degree, has been particularly successful in widening participation and works with children as young as 10 to inspire the idea that university could be for them. The University of Bristol has set up a thriving learning campus in Barton Hill in my constituency, which is amongst the most deprived wards in the south west of England, along with another hub in a south Bristol ward with intergenerational unemployment and historically low staying-on rates in post-16 education.

There is less focus on the next frontier of access and opportunity: postgraduate study. These more specialist courses can be significant drivers of social mobility, helping people into incredibly rewarding careers in some of our most exciting sectors – but stubborn barriers remain to more diverse participation. Students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds and some minority ethnic groups are less likely to progress to Masters and PhD courses, even when they are high achievers as undergraduates.

While there are programmes in leading Russell Group research universities to change this – such as the University of Bristol’s dedicated Access Postgrad programme and Widening Participation Summer Research Internships – these have typically lacked the same structural framework and unified proactive effort that has helped diversify the undergraduate cohorts. There are also distinct hurdles for postgraduate students which mean we cannot simply map successful approaches for undergraduates onto a different cohort.

For example, not only is postgraduate student finance significantly less generous for postgraduates as undergraduates, but older students also often face higher living costs. Many have moved beyond living with their parents or sharing rented accommodation and are settling down into family life with children of their own. But in England, postgraduate students are currently ineligible for the childcare grants available to undergraduates, with a disproportionate effect on women and people from lower-income communities. Extending childcare grants would be one simple way to ease financial barriers, which we know are the most powerful obstacles to pursuing postgraduate study.

Beyond financial measures, there is also a challenge with helping people from all walks of life feel that postgraduate study could be for them. Research courses, in particular, require a distinct skillset. Without role models they can identify with, even the most talented undergraduates with huge academic potential might feel unable to take full advantage of opportunities for advanced study.

Widening the net of who gets to benefit from a postgraduate degree is fantastic for individuals who can uncover rewarding experiences, confidence and skills, and exciting career pathways. But it’s also good for the country. You only have to look at the number of hugely successful companies which spin out from our universities to see the benefits of widening postgraduate education. Wider labour market research from the Department for Education shows demand for advanced qualifications will rise by 53 per cent by 2035, as we build the highly-skilled workforce we need to deliver our Industrial Strategy and maintain our global edge in science and discovery.

Ensuring that we back and extend the work by the Russell Group and other sector bodies will therefore be vital in making sure we extend our opportunity mission to higher skills, bringing students with new perspectives and diverse backgrounds into the postgraduate community – a community that will be at the heart of our economic and international ambitions for the UK in years to come.

Kerry McCarthy is the Labour MP for Bristol East