Is 'First in Family' a Good Indicator for Widening University Participation?

Anna Adamecz-Völgyi, Morag Henderson () and Nikki Shure
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Morag Henderson: UCL Institute of Education

No 12826, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Universities use 'first in family' or 'first generation' as an indicator to increase the diversity of their student intake, but little is known about whether it is a good indicator of disadvantage. We use nationally representative, longitudinal survey data linked to administrative data from England to provide the first comprehensive analysis of this measure. We employ parametric probability (logit) and non-parametric classification (random forest) models to look at its relative predictive power of university participation and graduation. We find that being first in family is an important barrier to university participation and graduation, over and above other sources of disadvantage. This association seems to operate through the channel of early educational attainment. Our findings indicate that the first in family indicator could be key in efforts to widen participation at universities.

Keywords: predictive models; machine learning; educational mobility; first generation; first in family; widening participation; higher education; socioeconomic gaps (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 I24 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2019-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cmp, nep-edu and nep-eur
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Economics of Education Review, 2020, 78, 102038.

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Journal Article: Is ‘first in family’ a good indicator for widening university participation? (2020)
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