Three stories of institutional differentiation: resource, mission and social inequalities in higher education

Figures & data

Figure 1. Enrolment by type of higher education institutions UK, 1921–2019. Sources: Carpentier (2004); DESa (1961–1982); DESb (1983); DESc (1984–90); DESd (1988–93); HESAb (1995–current); Woodfield (2014) for private providers.

Figure 2. Share of enrolment by type of higher education institutions UK, 1959–2019. Sources: See Figure 1.

Figure 3. Income of higher education institutions (universities only before 1992) UK 1920–2019. Sources: Data for Universities (Carpentier 2004). Data for polytechnics before 1995 (Pratt 1997, 244–245). Data for HE after 1992 (HESAa 1995–current).

Figure 4. Resource (income) per Student at £1990 Prices, UK, 1921–2019. Sources: See Figure 1 for enrolment and Figure 3 for income.

Figure 5. Income structure by type of institutions UK, 1921–2019. Sources: see Figure 3.

Figure 6. Total Full-time undergraduate entrants, UK, 1959–2018. Sources: HESAb (1995–current).

Figure 7. Number of students by mode of enrolment (Full-time/Part-time) 1959–2019 and UK population aged 18, Numbers and projections. 1959–2030. Sources: Carpentier (2004); DESa (1961–1982); DESb (1983); DESc (1984–90); DESd (1988–93); HESAb (1995–current); ONS (various years).

Figure 8. Proportion of part-time students per type of Institution- 1959–2019. Sources: see Figure 7.

Figure 9. Distribution of enrolment in the non-university sector UK- 1959–1994. Sources: DESa (1961–1982); DESb (1983); DESc (1984–90);DESd (1988–93).

Figure 10. Number of postgraduate students per type of Institution- 1921–2019. Sources: Carpentier (2004); DESa (1961–1982); DESb (1983); DESc (1984–90); DESd (1988–93); HESAb (1995–current).

Figure 11. HE qualifications obtained by type of Institution. UK- 1921–2018. Sources: Carpentier (2004); GCS (1967–1998); HESAb (1995–current).

Figure 12. Enrolment (full-time UG and PG) distributed by subjects in the HE public sector (1966–1992) and the university sector (1966–2019). Sources: DESa (1961–1982); DESb (1983); DESc (1984–90);DESd (1988–93); UGCa (1920–1965); UGCb (1966–1979); UGCc (1980–1988); UFC (1989–1994); HESAb (1995–current).

Figure 13. Proportion of international students in each type of institution, UK, 1921–2019 (Only Full-time until 1981). Sources: DESa (1961–1982); DESb (1983); DESc (1984–90);DESd (1988–93); UGCa (1920–1965); UGCb (1966–1979); UGCc (1980–1988); UFC (1989–1994); HESAb (1995–current).

Figure 14. Gender Participation per type of Institutions 1959–2019. Sources: DESa (1961–1982); DESb (1983); DESc (1984–90); DESd (1988–93); UGCa (1920–1965); UGCb (1966–1979); UGCc (1980–1988); UFC (1989–1994); HESAb (1995–current).

Figure 15. Gender participation per type of Institutions UK 1959–2019. Sources: DESa (1961–1982); DESb (1983); DESc (1984–90); DESd (1988–93); UGCa (1920–1965); UGCb (1966–1979); UGCc (1980–1988); UFC (1989–1994); HESAb (1995–current).

Figure 16. Proportions of women students in the public sector UK- 1959–1994. Sources: See Figure 14.

Table 1. Odds ratio Index of representation of social groups in education attainment.

	University	Polytechnics	College	No further education
Born 1936–45
Service	5.33	2.46	3.15	0.71
Intermediate	1.09	1.6	1.26	0.96
Manual	0.16	0.59	0.30	1.22
Born 1946–55
Service	4.82	2.4	2.34	0.63
Intermediate	0.94	1.30	1.23	0.96
Manual	0.17	0.34	0.37	1.35
Born 1956–65
Service	4.25	2.30	1.81	0.58
Intermediate	0.98	1.19	1.09	0.97
Manual	0.18	0.35	0.53	1.43

Sources: Egerton and Halsey (1993, 186).

Note on Table 1: The odds ratio ‘reflects the relative likelihood of participating in University of individuals from one category’ compared to individuals from the rest of the population.

Figure 17. Distribution of education attainment by socioeconomic categories by cohorts.

Figure 18. Percentages of Young full-time undergraduate entrants from National Statistics Socio-economic classes 4, 5, 6 and 7 by type of Institutions, 2003–2015. Sources: Pratt (1997, 79); Ross (2003, 72); HESAd (2003–current).

Figure 19. Percentages of young full-time first degree entrants from low participation neighbourhoods (POLAR) by type of Institutions, 2007–2019. Sources: HESAd (2003–current).

Figure 20. Percentages of young full-time first degree entrants from private schools, 2003–2019. Sources: HESAd (2003–current).

Figure 21. Percentages of the UK domiciled HE student enrolments (with known ethnicity) from minority ethnics (HESA classification) by type of Institutions, 2008–2019. Sources: HESAd (2003–current).

Table 2. A timeline of the expansion and differentiation of UK HE 1959–2020.

Acccumulation regime	1959–73	1973–1990	1990–2008		2008?
	Fordist regime Post-war consensus Productivity turned into progressive wage policy and expanding public sphere	Fordist Crisis Stagflation ends consensus Cuts /deregulation	Post-Fordist regime Finance led Washington consensus Retreating state/ marketisation		Post-Fordist Financial crisis revealing socioeconmic inequality Further Austerity and marketisation
Socio-political context	1959–73	1973–80	1980–97	1997–2010	2010-?
	Welfare State Increased public funding of HE (Con and Lab)	Austerity Reduced Public funding (Lab)	Neoliberalism Cuts and Marketisation (Con)	Third way Cost sharing (New Lab)	Neo-austerity Public/private substitution of funding (Con-lib coalition and Con)
Expansion	1959–73	1973–88	1988–2010		2010–?
	First expansion	Slowdown	Second expansion		Slowdown
Diversification	1959–92		1992–?
	Binary system Public sector/university sector		Unified system Post-92/Pre-92/Russell
Resource differentiation within the HE sectors	1959–73	1973–80	1980–92	1992–2006	2006?
	Unequal but controlled	Reduced	Increased	Unequal but stable	Intensified and transformed
Mission differentiation within the HE sectors	1959–73	1973–1988	1988–2006		2006?
	Division of labour and academic drift	Redifferentiation	Convergence		Retreating mission convergence
Social differentiation within the HE sectors	1959–73	1973–1988	1988–2006		2006 ?
	Clear signs of inclusion Subtle signs of diversion	Setback (especially gender)	Stratified democratisation		Maintained and transformed

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