Project set to remove barriers to postgraduate study

Posted on 10 December 2013

Dr Paul Wakeling, CRESJ member has secured funding to work on a project to support postgraduate students.

The HEFCE funded project will establish an evidence-based understanding of which groups are under-represented in postgraduate study and why, drawing on sources of data which are uniquely available to the institutions involved. These findings will be used as a benchmark for evaluating the success of the interventions.

Dr Wakeling has also been engaged by HEFCE and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to identify and advise on emergent findings from a portfolio of 20 projects to be funded by HEFCE under the Postgraduate Support Scheme.

Dr Wakeling has conducted research into inequalities in access to postgraduate study, including most recently a report on Transition to Higher Degrees in the UK for the Higher Education Academy. The report’s co-author, Dr Gillian Hampden-Thompson, Reader in Education at the University of York, will also be involved in the new project.

Dr Wakeling said: “There is much that we do not currently know about entry to taught postgraduate degrees. This project will enable us to assess in detail the demand for postgraduate courses from different groups of graduates. We will also investigate the motivations of the large group of graduates who come back to university for a postgraduate qualification after a break from their studies. This group represents the majority of postgraduates but we currently know very little about their academic, employment and family backgrounds.”