Postgraduate study shouldn’t just be for the wealthy

The government is now turning its attention to this challenge, pledging in the recently-released White Paper on post-16 education and skills, to address the barriers faced by disadvantaged students in accessing postgraduate education. Change can’t come soon enough.

Rising postgraduate fees combined with the increased cost of living, particularly higher rents, can make it impossible for some students to afford graduate study. Offer holders for these courses may reject places because they cannot secure the finance they need.

The consequences are stark. The Sutton Trust has shown that graduates from less privileged backgrounds appear less likely to progress to postgraduate study than those from families with professional or managerial backgrounds. Scholarship programmes like Crankstart at Oxford help to open higher education to low-income undergraduate students, but the lack of enough similar provision at postgraduate level means that these students can find themselves cut off from further study.

There is an inherent unfairness in effectively locking students from modest backgrounds out of graduate education. The inability of some able young scholars to progress to advanced study and research also has a direct long-term impact on universities. Higher degrees are prerequisites for almost all academic careers. While graduate study remains prohibitively expensive, we risk making careers in university education inaccessible.

Anyone hoping for a working life in academia must also reckon with the possibility of a career where reliable, long-term work can be hard to find. They will read about falling budgets, fewer jobs and even cuts to early-career support in universities worldwide.

Some would-be academics fear a struggle to fund a postgraduate degree followed by a tougher fight to secure and stay in work. It is hardly surprising that many talented young people from less affluent backgrounds rule out taking this path.

Over time, barriers like these will erode social diversity among university tutors, professors and leaders. That erosion matters for universities and the wider economy. Higher education employs almost a quarter of a million people in the UK, generates over £100bn each year and spins off thousands of businesses. The country cannot afford to put obstacles in the way of talented, committed people who want to contribute to that work.

Progress on postgraduate access has been made, and the news is far from universally bad. The University of Oxford approved a significant new graduate access strategy earlier this year, designed to diversify admissions at postgraduate and doctoral levels. Meanwhile, schemes such as Oxford’s Clarendon Scholarship - which provides full funding to 200 graduate students annually - play an important role.

The number of students from working-class backgrounds progressing to a taught higher degree has increased since the introduction of graduate loans, although these students are still less likely to go on to further study than their wealthier peers.

We can and must do more. Housing costs continue to rise, particularly in cities like Oxford. That is why Christ Church is transforming the building that currently houses Oxford’s University’s Music Faculty – which is relocating to a new, better-suited building - into a new graduate centre, providing high-quality affordable accommodation.

Christ Church, like many colleges, also grants scholarships each year for new graduate students. We offer more than £1m a year towards graduate study and support four Oxford University Clarendon scholars annually, as well as providing funding for students under the University’s Academic Futures programme. As Christ Church celebrates the 500th anniversary of the college, we hope to go further, raising £25m to provide 20 fully-funded scholarships.

But more must be done, too, across higher education to offer the next generation of academics stable professional lives. There should be clear pathways into and through their careers, with better support for early-career academics in a tough funding environment. That could include more backing for those working on short-term contracts to help them secure their next posts and manage the uncertainty that comes with time-limited research grants.

Many postgraduates find that studying for a doctorate is a life-defining experience. My own student research exposed me to debates about female ordination in the early medieval church that I could never have imagined. It shaped my faith and my future. Without that study, I would not be an academic, or a priest. Access to this opportunity must be determined by students’ ability and commitment, not their personal wealth.

The Very Revd Prof Sarah Foot is Dean of Christ Church, Oxford

Photograph by Simon Hadley