The publication of Nick Clegg's report on social mobility was a missed opportunity to identify the importance of postgraduate study as a means of breaking the middle and upper class stranglehold on the most highly paid professional and managerial jobs. The deputy prime minister allowed himself to be characterised in the press as blaming schools, top universities and "snobbery" - rather than income inequality - for the UK's appalling record in giving people at the bottom of the social pile a fair crack at bettering their lot.
Evidence brought together by the 1994 group in its recent paper "The postgraduate crisis" shows how postgraduate study improves the earnings and employment prospects. Both taught and research postgraduates are much less likely to be unemployed three and a half years on than graduates and postgraduates are much more likely to be in managerial or professional roles. The 1994 report also quotes LSE research commissioned by the Sutton Trust showing that those with a master's or PhD earned on average between 15% and 23% more respectively over their lives than graduates.
It is clear that individuals can significantly improve life chances through postgraduate study and yet this government has nothing to say about how it is going to ensure fair access for people from all backgrounds. In its evidence to the Higher Education Commission postgraduate review, the UK Council for Graduate Education revealed that 37% of PhD students are now self funding – with just 14% funded by research councils. The proportion of those funded by research councils is expected to fall further, placing more burdens on individuals and institutions which already fund far more PhD students than research councils.
As always the richest institutions will be best placed to increase their funding of PG study. You will no doubt have read in the press of the £26 million donation for postgraduate humanities scholarships at Oxford University by Mica Ertegun – widow of the founder of Atlantic records. But even at the top, the generosity of individuals cannot fill the gap left by the failure of this government to address the issue of PG funding. Oxford and other Russell Group institutions are seriously concerned that once fees treble, talented students from poorer homes will count themselves out of postgraduate study. Having overcome all the obstacles to get to a Russell Group university, these students are in effect being told that they can go so far and no further.
Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, warns that "the student support system for postgraduates needs to be strengthened. The government must ensure that the new regime does not have a negative impact on the propensity of some students to pursue postgraduate study... the lack of funding for postgraduates could have damaging consequences. Many professions require a postgraduate qualification and we are concerned that the lack of financial support at this level is another hurdle for students – especially those from more disadvantaged backgrounds – to overcome."
In it's written evidence to an enquiry by the Lords Science and Technology Committee, Oxford University called for the state to intervene to financially support masters degrees in STEM subjects and sounded concerns about the impact of higher fees on take-up of PhDs. "In the STEM subjects most would have run up a debt of four years worth of fees and maintenance by the time they would embark on a doctorate. If they have become debt-averse by then, it may well dissuade them from entering a further period of low financial reward, depending on how important it is to them to start repaying the loan straight after graduating. Such aversion may be greater among those from some under-represented groups."
Part of the problem is that although they make up more than a quarter of the student body, too little is known about postgraduate students. A recent PhD project from Philip Wales at the LSE, offers rare evidence that students from poorer homes are under-represented among PG students and that they are deterred by higher fees. In May, the Higher Education Funding Council (Hefce) produced data on the proportion of PG students who fail to complete their studies. On average 18% are expected to fail to complete their studies. But there is a huge variation in the performance of individual institutions. In some such as Liverpool John Moores, Bradford and Durham, non-completion rates are expected to be well below 10% but in others such as Salford, Central Lancs and Coventry, around a third are expected not to complete their studies. What do we know about why they drop out? And what do we know about who is most likely to drop out? Very little and without that sort of evidence it will be difficult to force politicians to act.
This is not just a matter of individual advancement but of national economic necessity. As the 1994 report points out, the higher level skills of postgraduates are essential for UK competitiveness and yet the number of UK students studying beyond graduate level has stalled in recent years. The government has asked Hefce to monitor the situation. The danger is that they will be monitoring a decline that will be difficult to reverse in the years to come.