This Sutton Trust summary accompanies the report "Which University Degrees Are Best for Intergenerational Mobility?," produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in partnership with the Sutton Trust and the Department for Education. The research is a landmark piece of work for the study of social mobility in this country, utilising data…

Previous work has looked at the relationship between high school preparation and student performance in calculus-based introductory mechanics (physics 1) courses. Here, we extend that work to look at performance in introductory calculus-based electricity and magnetism (physics 2), and we look at the significance of what college math courses have…

Despite limiting access to applicants from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, the practice of using hard or soft Graduate Record Examination (GRE) cutoff scores in physics graduate program admissions is still a popular method for reducing the pool of applicants. The present study considers whether the undergraduate institutions of…

This article explores factors contributing to unequal patterns of access to languages other than English (LOTE) in Australian universities. A critical analysis of qualitative and quantitative data generated through interviews, surveys and document analysis reveals that underrepresentation in LOTE courses in Australian universities is attributable…

Despite substantial prior research on higher education choice, top universities in the UK continue to stand accused of favouring socio-economically advantaged students, to the detriment of those from poorer backgrounds. The objectives of this study are to test whether students with the same or equivalent entry scores are more or less likely to…

A questionnaire was administered to 1,929 applicants to Oxford University, including measures of trait anxiety, behavioural response to examinations and to breakdown in relationships. 635 of these applicants were admitted to the university and of these, 383 also responded to a questionnaire administered 4 years later, just before their final…

Over the past several decades, affirmative action has become a widely-debated issue in higher education. According to research, race-sensitive admissions policies engender significant advantages for students of all racial backgrounds, yet critics claim that these benefits are matched by significant costs--particularly in terms of minority student…

Elite universities will be returning to court to clarify the murky ruling in "Grutter v. Bollinger". Thomas E. Wood predicts that judges will again have to pass judgment on the constitutionality of dubious scheming by elite universities to achieve their critical mass of black students legitimately--without resort to tacit quotas and…