Patterns of postgraduate transitions amongst care-experienced graduates in the United Kingdom

Figures & data

Table 1. List of variables used in this study

Variable	Definition	Notes
Sex	Male/Female	Predates the use of ‘non-binary’ category.
Age on entry	20 or under/21 to 24/25 to 29/30 and over
Disability	Not disabled/Disabled and receiving the Disabled Students’ Allowance/Disabled, but not receiving the Disabled Students’ Allowance	The Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) covers study-specific (i.e. not living) costs associated with a disability. Those not receiving the DSA tend to include those with mental-health issues and chronic illness, although assessments are undertaken individually.
Ethnicity	White/Black (inc. African and Caribbean)/Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi/Other Asian (inc. Chinese)/Mixed Heritage/Other or not known	Because of low numbers, it was necessary to combine ethnic groups. Various configurations were explored, but they did not materially impact on the analysis.
Nationality	UK/Other nationality	The ‘other’ group is made up of those who hold a nationality other than British, but who have the right to study in the UK as a ‘home’ student rather than an ‘international’ student. This will include, but not be limited to, those with settled status, those from recent migrant families, asylum-seekers and refugees.
Care status	Care-experienced/Not care-experienced
HEI type (for undergraduate study)	Russell Group university/Other pre-1992 university/Post-1992 HEI	In 1992, HEIs that were formerly polytechnics were granted university status. Having university status prior to this date is therefore seen as a marker of higher status, although the distinction is increasingly eroded. The Russell Group is a self-identifying group of research-intensive universities that constitutes those with the highest status.
Undergraduate subject of study	Natural sciences/Healthcare/Mathematics, engineering and construction/Computer science and technology/Social sciences/Law, business and communications/Languages, history and philosophy/Creative arts/Education	Derived from the ‘JACS’ codes used to categorise courses in the UK.
Degree class	First/Upper Second/Lower Second/Third or Pass/Unclassified	‘Unclassified’ relates to courses that do not award classifications – e.g. medicine.
Sandwich year	Yes/No	An academic year spent studying in another country or working in industry.
Principal activity	Full-time work/Part-time work/Work mainly, plus study/Study mainly, plus work/Full-time study/Part-time study/Due to start work shortly/Unemployed/Other	Derived from the DLHE survey. ‘Other’ includes travelling, caring responsibilities, long-term sickness and similar.
Type and level of study after graduation	Research postgraduate/Taught postgraduate masters/Postgraduate certificate or diploma/Undergraduate/Professional qualification/Other or informal qualification	Derived from the DLHE survey.
HEI type (for postgraduate study)	Russell Group university/Other pre-1992 university/Post-1992 HEI/Other	As per HEI types for undergraduate study (above), but with the addition of an ‘other’ category, including, inter alia, postgraduate study overseas, study with private providers (e.g. University of Law) and schools-based teacher training.

Table 2. Binary logistic regression models for transition into postgraduate study

	Model 1		Model 2		Model 3
	B(SE)	OR(p)	B(SE)	OR(p)	B(SE)	OR(p)
Care-experienced (ref = no)
− Yes	.223(.073)	1.249(.002)	.370(.075)	1.448(<.001)	.320(.075)	1.377(<.001)
Degree class (ref = first class)
− Upper second class			-.300(.014)	.741(<.001)	-.316(.014)	.729(<.001)
− Lower second class			-.627(.020)	.534(<.001)	-.667(.020)	.513(<.001)
− Third class or pass			-1.701(.070)	.183(<.001)	-1.758(.070)	.172(<.001)
− Unclassified			-1.833(.078)	.160(<.001)	-1.872(.078)	.154(<.001)
HEI type (ref = other)
− Russell Group university			.077(.015)	1.080(<.001)	.111(.015)	1.118(<.001)
− Other pre-1992 university			.221(.016)	1.247(<.001)	.222(.016)	1.249(<.001)
Subject (ref = education/combined)
− Natural sciences			.745(.028)	2.106(<.001)	.757(.029)	2.132(<.001)
− Healthcare			-.169(.039)	.844(<.001)	-.207(.039)	.813(<.001)
− Maths, engineering and construction			.090(.034)	1.094(.008)	.089(.035)	1.093(.012)
− Computer science and technology			-.335(.042)	.715(<.001)	-.345(.043)	.708(<.001)
− Social sciences			.198(.031)	1.219(<.001)	.160(.032)	1.173(<.001)
− Law, business and communications			-.106(.030)	.899(.001)	-.121(.030)	.886(<.001)
− Languages, history and philosophy			.612(.031)	1.844(<.001)	.620(.031)	1.859(<.001)
− Creative arts			-.457(.033)	.633(<.001)	-.421(.033)	.656(<.001)
Sandwich year (ref = no)
− Yes			-.826(.028)	.438(<.001)	-.699(.029)	.497(<.001)
Sex (ref = female)
− Male					.010(.013)	1.010(.459)
Ethnicity (ref = white)
− Black (inc. African and Caribbean)					.206(.028)	1.229(<.001)
− Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi					.148(.023)	1.160(<.001)
− Other Asian (inc. Chinese)					.216(.038)	1.241(<.001)
− Mixed heritage					-.012(.033)	.988(.702)
− Other or not known					.267(.044)	1.306(<.001)
Age on entry (ref = 20 or under)
− 21 to 24					-.236(.013)	.789(<.001)
− 25 to 29					-.083(.033)	.920(.007)
− 30 or over					.286(.028)	1.331(<.001)
Disabled (ref = not disabled)
− Disabled and receiving DSA					.110(.023)	1.116(<.001)
− Disabled, but not receiving DSA					.147(.024)	1.159(<.001)
Nationality (ref = UK)
− Other					.142(.023)	1.152(<.001)
Constant	-1.304(.006)	.271(<.001)	-1.212(.027)	.298(<.001)	-1.183(.029)	.306(<.001)
Nagelkerke R2	<.001		.079		.086

Table 3. Propensity to progress into postgraduate study, by status of undergraduate HEI

	Care-experienced	Other graduates	p-value
Russell Group	29.2%	25.5%	.376
Other pre-1992 university	27.7%	24.4%	.334
Post-1992 HEI	24.3%	18.6%	<.001^a

Note: ^a significant at the 5% level following Bonferroni correction.

Table 4. Propensity to progress into postgraduate study, by degree classification

	Care-experienced	Other graduates	p-value
First class	28.3%	25.7%	.389
Upper second class	25.8%	21.8%	.030
Lower second class	26.0%	16.3%	<.001^a
Third class/pass	11.1%	6.0%	.117
Unclassified	7.1%	5.6%	.802

Note: ^a significant at the 5% level following Bonferroni correction

Table 5. Propensity to progress into postgraduate study, by ethnicity

	Care-experienced	Other graduates	p-value
White	24.1%	21.3%	.080
Black	25.8%	21.9%	.242
Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi	32.8%	21.0%	.029
Other Asian (inc. Chinese)	20.0%	22.9%	.613
Mixed heritage	25.0%	20.6%	.347
Other/Unknown	43.8%	24.4%	.011

Note: ^a significant at the 5% level following Bonferroni correction.

Table 6. Propensity to progress into postgraduate study, by age on entry

	Care-experienced	Other graduates	p-value
20 or under	25.9%	24.8%	.667
21 to 24	23.0%	18.2%	.005^a
25 to 29	28.1%	19.2%	.027
30 or over	30.8%	25.8%	.186

Note: ^a significant at the 5% level following Bonferroni correction.

Table 7. Propensity to progress into postgraduate study, by disability status

	Care-experienced	Other graduates	p-value
Not disabled	24.8%	21.2%	.014^a
Disabled and receiving DSA	22.9%	21.6%	.712
Disabled, but not receiving DSA	33.0%	23.1%	.022

Note: ^a significant at the 5% level following Bonferroni correction

Table 8. Postgraduate study type, by care status

	Research degree	Taught Masters	Diploma/Certificate
Care-experienced	5.1%	79.7%	15.2%
Other graduates	9.0%	69.9%	21.1%

Table 9. Mixture of work and study, by care status

	Mainly work, some study	Mainly study, some work	Full-time study only	Part-time study only
Care-experienced	5.9%	18.0%	73.4%	2.7%
Other graduates	4.4%	15.9%	76.8%	3.0%

Table 10. Postgraduate study location, by undergraduate degree result and care status

		Russell Group	Other pre-1992 HEI	Post-1992 HEI	Other^7	p-value
First or upper second	Care-experienced	22.3%	20.2%	49.5%	8.0%	<.001^a
	Other graduates	34.8%	18.7%	35.5%	11.0%
Lower second, third or pass	Care-experienced	9.0%	19.4%	65.7%	6.0%	.147
	Other graduates	14.9%	18.3%	54.4%	12.4%
All	Care-experienced	18.8%	20.0%	53.7%	7.5%	<.001^a
	Other graduates	32.3%	18.6%	37.9%	11.2%

Note: ^asignificant at the 5% level following Bonferroni correction

Table 11. Postgraduate study location, by undergraduate study location and care status

		Postgraduate location
Undergraduate location		Russell Group	Other pre-1992 HEI	Post-1992 HEI	Other
Russell Group	Care-experienced	71.0%	12.9%	16.1%	0.0%
	Other graduates	70.4%	9.0%	7.9%	12.7%
Other pre-1992 HEI	Care-experienced	15.9%	63.6%	13.6%	6.8%
	Other graduates	22.6%	56.0%	10.6%	10.8%
Post-1992 HEIs	Care-experienced	10.5%	11.0%	69.6%	8.8%
	Other graduates	14.0%	8.3%	67.2%	10.4%