Graduate views on access to higher education: is it really a case of pulling up the ladder?

Using as a starting point in the recent work of Mountford-Zimdars et al., the authors analyse attitudes towards expanding higher education (HE) opportunities in the UK. The authors propose that the approach of Mountford-Zimdars et al. is flawed not only in its adoption of a multivariate logistic reg...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Webb, Rob, Watson, Duncan, Cook, Steve, Arico, Fabio
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49946/
_version_ 1848798116755537920
author Webb, Rob
Watson, Duncan
Cook, Steve
Arico, Fabio
author_facet Webb, Rob
Watson, Duncan
Cook, Steve
Arico, Fabio
author_sort Webb, Rob
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Using as a starting point in the recent work of Mountford-Zimdars et al., the authors analyse attitudes towards expanding higher education (HE) opportunities in the UK. The authors propose that the approach of Mountford-Zimdars et al. is flawed not only in its adoption of a multivariate logistic regression but also in its interpretation of results. The authors make a number of adaptations, chief among them being the use of an ordered probit approach and the addition of a time dimension to test for changes in attitudes between 2000 and 2010. The authors find that attitudes towards HE expansion have intensified during the decade 2000–2010, but the authors uncover no evidence that this is due to graduates wanting to ‘pull up the ladder’, as suggested by Mountford-Zimdars et al. The authors argue that evidence of a widespread desire to reduce access to HE can most likely be explained by social congestion theory, internal institutional disaffection and rising tuition fees.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T20:14:40Z
format Article
id nottingham-49946
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:14:40Z
publishDate 2015
publisher Taylor & Francis
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-499462020-05-04T17:13:51Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49946/ Graduate views on access to higher education: is it really a case of pulling up the ladder? Webb, Rob Watson, Duncan Cook, Steve Arico, Fabio Using as a starting point in the recent work of Mountford-Zimdars et al., the authors analyse attitudes towards expanding higher education (HE) opportunities in the UK. The authors propose that the approach of Mountford-Zimdars et al. is flawed not only in its adoption of a multivariate logistic regression but also in its interpretation of results. The authors make a number of adaptations, chief among them being the use of an ordered probit approach and the addition of a time dimension to test for changes in attitudes between 2000 and 2010. The authors find that attitudes towards HE expansion have intensified during the decade 2000–2010, but the authors uncover no evidence that this is due to graduates wanting to ‘pull up the ladder’, as suggested by Mountford-Zimdars et al. The authors argue that evidence of a widespread desire to reduce access to HE can most likely be explained by social congestion theory, internal institutional disaffection and rising tuition fees. Taylor & Francis 2015-07-02 Article PeerReviewed Webb, Rob, Watson, Duncan, Cook, Steve and Arico, Fabio (2015) Graduate views on access to higher education: is it really a case of pulling up the ladder? Studies in Higher Education, 42 (3). pp. 504-518. ISSN 1470-174X higher education expansion widening access attitudes ordered probit http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2015.1052738 doi:10.1080/03075079.2015.1052738 doi:10.1080/03075079.2015.1052738
spellingShingle higher education
expansion
widening access
attitudes
ordered probit
Webb, Rob
Watson, Duncan
Cook, Steve
Arico, Fabio
Graduate views on access to higher education: is it really a case of pulling up the ladder?
title Graduate views on access to higher education: is it really a case of pulling up the ladder?
title_full Graduate views on access to higher education: is it really a case of pulling up the ladder?
title_fullStr Graduate views on access to higher education: is it really a case of pulling up the ladder?
title_full_unstemmed Graduate views on access to higher education: is it really a case of pulling up the ladder?
title_short Graduate views on access to higher education: is it really a case of pulling up the ladder?
title_sort graduate views on access to higher education: is it really a case of pulling up the ladder?
topic higher education
expansion
widening access
attitudes
ordered probit
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49946/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49946/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49946/