Sutton Trust responds to IFS and Fair Education Alliance reports

Commenting on new research from the IFS on graduate earnings, Dr Lee Elliot Major, Chief Executive of the Sutton Trust, said:

“The new IFS research helps explain why social mobility remains poor in the UK, despite a big expansion in higher education. Students from better-off backgrounds are more likely to go to universities and take subjects with better career prospects. But even allowing for these choices, they still earn more which suggests that we all need to redouble efforts to improve the networks available to undergraduates, their access to internships and their access to skills valued by employers.”

Commenting on the Fair Education Alliance’s Report Card 2015, Dr Lee Elliot Major, Chief Executive of the Sutton Trust, said:

“We welcome the report from the alliance. It highlights the real challenges that remain in narrowing the attainment gap in schools and the access gap at university, despite some improvements. It is particularly worrying that the access gap to our best universities is widening, and this highlights just how important it is that teachers ensure that their less advantaged but highly able students get the support and advice they need to fulfil their potential. The pupil premium has a big role to play here alongside a national programme for highly able students.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The Sutton Trust is a foundation set up in 1997, dedicated to improving social mobility through education. It has published over 170 research studies and funded and evaluated programmes that have helped hundreds of thousands of young people of all ages, from early years through to access to the professions.
2. Earning by Degrees, published in December 2014 by the Sutton Trust, found that the career outcomes of graduates differ markedly depending on their university and degree subject. The research found that graduates from Oxford and Cambridge enjoy starting salaries approximately £7,600 (42%) higher per year, on average, than graduates from post-1992 universities.