Catalyzing social mobility through student success

Nicola Branson and Emma Whitelaw

No wp-2026-48, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: We investigate the role of South African higher education institutions in promoting intergenerational social mobility using a newly linked administrative dataset of university students and secondary school completers. We measure mobility as the share of graduates from lower-income secondary schools—proxied by South Africa's quintile classification of school poverty—who are estimated to enter top-earning positions. Although access to higher education has expanded for students from lower-quintile schools, large differences in mobility outcomes persist across institutions and fields of study.

Keywords: Higher education; Intergenerational Mobility; Administrative data; Inequality; Labour market; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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