Journal article
Facilitating intergenerational social mobility through higher education: three challenges for policymakers
- Abstract:
- Social mobility remains a key concern for policymakers in many countries across the world. Despite widespread initiatives to improve the life chances of disadvantaged groups, rates of intergenerational mobility have, over recent decades, either slowed or been resistant to change. As higher education has often been positioned as an effective driver of improving mobility, this article draws on an internationally-focused study to assess what we can learn about the relationship between this sector of education and intergenerational social mobility. On the basis of interviews and focus groups with experts, plus analysis of nine case study countries, it outlines three key challenges for policymakers seeking to draw on international evidence to improve practice in their own nation-state. These relate to the importance of thinking critically about processes of policy transfer; the quality of data available; and understandings of higher education as a driver of social mobility.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 727.1KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1080/23322969.2026.2669090
Authors
- Publisher:
- Taylor & Francis
- Journal:
- Policy Reviews in Higher Education More from this journal
- Publication date:
- 2026-05-10
- Acceptance date:
- 2026-04-27
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2332-2950
- ISSN:
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2332-2969
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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2412124
- Local pid:
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pubs:2412124
- Deposit date:
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2026-04-28
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Brooks et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2026
- Rights statement:
- ©2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in anymedium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on whichthis article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
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