Who Gets a Doctoral Education? The Effects of Family Background on Opportunities for Doctoral Education

Abstract

“Who gets a doctoral education?” means “Who gets ahead?” Doctoral degree holders are the country’s elite talents, and increasing numbers of Master’s students are choosing to continue pursuing doctoral education after graduation. This paper conducted empirical analysis of data from the 2017 National Academic Master’s Graduate Survey. The study shows that, among the graduates from Master’s programs surveyed in 2017, 19.31% chose to continue pursuing a doctoral degree, while 4.5% chose to study abroad, and students at Double First Class institutions of higher education represented the majority in both categories. In the stage of doctoral education, family background still has a significant positive effect with respect to gaining educational opportunities, while the category of educational institution and the distribution of majors are important mediator variables. Compared to those who study for a doctoral degree domestically, Master’s students of better family background are more likely to receive a doctoral education overseas.

Keywords:

• Access to educational opportunities
• doctoral education
• family background
• study abroad

Notes

1 Source of Data: Ministry of Education, 2017 nian quanguo jiaoyu shiye fazhan tongji gongbao (2017 statistical bulletin on national educational development).

2 Source of Data: Beijing qingnian bao (Beijing Youth Daily) (Dec. 22, 2018), http://epaper.ynet.com/html/2018/12/22/content_314594.htm?div=-1.

3 Source of Data: National educational statistics of the Ministry of Education for the years 1997 and 2017.

4 Source of Data: Ministry of Education, 2018 nian woguo chuguo liuxue renyuan qingkuang tongji (Statistics on the state of Chinese personnel studying abroad in 2018).

5 Sources of Data: Beijing daxue 2018 nian jiuye zhiliang baogao (2018 report on the quality of employment for Peking University); Tsinghua daxue 2018 nian jiuye zhiliang baogao (2018 report on the quality of employment for Tsinghua University).

Additional information

Funding

“Special Project for Discipline Construction,” Discipline Construction Project of Peking University.