ABSTRACT

This paper provides the first quantitative analysis on ‘first in family’ (FiF) university graduates in the UK. Using a nationally representative dataset that covers a recent cohort in England, we identify the proportion of FiF young people at age 25 as 18%, comprising nearly two-thirds of university graduates. Comparing groups with no parental higher education we find that ethnic minorities and those with higher levels of prior attainment are more likely to become a FiF, while those who are FiF are more likely to study Law, Economics and Management and less likely to study other Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities than students whose parents are graduated. We also find evidence that FiF students are less likely to graduate from elite universities and are at greater risk of dropout in general, even after prior educational attainment and socioeconomic status are taken into account.

摘要

本文提供了对英国“家庭第一”（FiF）大学毕业生的首次定量分析。我们使用覆盖英国近期队列的全国代表性数据集，将25岁的FiF年轻人比例确定为18％，占大学毕业生的近三分之二。比较未接受父母高等教育的群体，我们发现少数族裔和具有较高先验水平的人更有可能成为FiF，而那些拥有FiF的人则更有可能学习法律，经济和管理，而不太可能学习其他社会科学，艺术和人文学科的学生比其父母毕业的学生还多。我们还发现，有证据表明，金融学专业的学生不太可能从精英大学毕业，总体上辍学的风险更大，