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Master’s degree loan scheme boosts inclusivity, study finds

Posted on 24 July 2020

A loan scheme has enabled more graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds to progress onto studying for a masters, a major new study has found.

The new study by Professor Paul Wakeling and Dr Jose Luis Mateos-González, which looked at the next steps of more than 1.3 million graduates with a first degree in the UK, suggests that the introduction of the master’s degree loan scheme in England in 2016 substantially broadened the socioeconomic class of people able to further their higher education.

Assessing a five-year period (three years prior to the loan scheme and two following it), the research shows that master’s degree enrolment rates increased by 9,305 graduates, in England alone, during the first year loans were introduced.

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