Matthias Kubler’s research while affiliated with The University of Queensland and other places

Despite being a target of various policy interventions across developed countries, disparities in higher education participation among students from different socio-economic backgrounds remain persistent. While previous literature has outlined the processes through which parental resources can shape students’ educational decisions and pathways, the evidence remains scarce on how the effects of social origin on the participation in higher education vary along the academic performance distribution. Utilising multilevel models applied to large-scale linked administrative and survey data from Australia, this study explores how the participation in higher education varies along the students’ performance distribution by their social origins. Our results show that the effects of social origins on university participation are most pronounced in the middle of the academic performance distribution and taper off towards either end. Consideration is also given to exploring different ways to capture socio-economic status (SES) (i.e. through parental education and occupation) as an indicator of social origins. The results show that parental education serves as a better predictor of students’ university participation than does parental occupation. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for educational policies aimed at increasing university participation among individuals from low-SES backgrounds.

The intergenerational transmission of socio-economic status is driven to a significant extent through parents with higher socio-economic status providing advantages to their children as they move through the education system. At the same time, attainment of higher education credentials constitutes an important pathway for upwards social mobility among individuals from low socio-economic family backgrounds. Given the critical importance of higher education for socio-economic outcomes of children, this chapter focuses on young people’s journeys into and out of university. Drawing on the life course approach and opportunity pluralism theory, we present a conceptual model of the university student life cycle that splits individuals’ higher education trajectories into three distinct stages: access, participation and post-participation. Using this model as a guiding framework, we present a body of recent Australian evidence on differences in pathways through the higher education system among individuals from low and high socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds. In doing so, we pay attention to factors such as family material circumstances, students’ school experiences and post-school plans, and parental education and expectations—all of which constitute important barriers to access, participation and successful transitions out of higher education for low SES students. Overall, our results indicate that socio-economic background plays a significant role in shaping outcomes at various points of individual’s educational trajectories. This is manifested by lower chances amongst low-SES individuals to access and participate in higher education, and to find satisfying and secure employment post-graduation. Our findings bear important implications for educational and social policy.

Humanitarian migrants are amongst the most marginalised population groups in countries within the Global North, including Australia. An important channel for these migrants to successfully settle into the host society and improve their socio-economic outcomes is participation in the local education system, particularly in higher-education options. However, we know surprisingly little about the socio-demographic factors that structure inequalities in humanitarian migrants’ access to (higher) education, with evidence from robust quantitative studies being particularly scarce. The present study fills this important gap in knowledge by analysing Australian longitudinal survey data (Building a New Life in Australia; n = 2109 migrants and 8668 person-year observations) by means of random-effect panel regression models. Key results indicated that higher English-language proficiency and pre-arrival education levels are core factors fostering greater engagement with the Australian higher-education system amongst humanitarian migrants. Humanitarian-migrant women in our sample exhibited a greater adjusted likelihood of being a student than humanitarian-migrant men. Altogether, our findings confirmed inequalities in accessing the Australian higher-education system amongst humanitarian migrants, and that policy attention is required to redress this situation. However, they also stress that a ‘one size fits all’ policy strategy may be neither sufficient nor appropriate to boost their education prospects.

Deferral and leave-taking behaviour substantially affects enrolment and retention rates across Australian universities. Almost ten per cent of commencing students defer their university offer every year, while over 20 per cent of continuing students take leave from their university within three years of commencing a Bachelor degree. Our research confirms that around one third of deferring students do not return to the university sector. Many more return to the sector but enrol in a different course or university from which they deferred. More worryingly, less than a third of continuing students who take leave subsequently return to study within the next two years. Universities have become more flexible in enabling students to leave, but arguably not as flexible and motivated to accommodate their return.

Research consistently shows that higher-education participation has positive impacts on individual outcomes. However, few studies explicitly consider differences in these impacts by socio-economic background (SEB), and those which do fail to examine graduate trajectories over the long run, non-labor outcomes and relative returns. We address these knowledge gaps by investigating the short- and long-term socio-economic trajectories of Australian university graduates from advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds across multiple domains. We use high-quality longitudinal data from two sources: the Australian Longitudinal Census Dataset and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. Low-SEB graduates experienced short-term post-graduation disadvantage in employment and occupational status, but not wages. They also experienced lower job and financial security up to 5 years post-graduation. Despite this, low-SEB graduates benefited more from higher education in relative terms—that is, university education improves the situation of low-SEB individuals to a greater extent than it does for high-SEB individuals.

This project was commissioned by the Queensland Department of Education and Training (DET) to determine what strategies are being used within Queensland government (state) schools to improve student attendance. In 2008, the Department’s Every Day Counts initiative sought to improve student attendance at school through a shared commitment by students, parents, caregivers, schools and the community. Data from DET indicate that on any given day, nine per cent of Queensland state school students are absent from school. Through the Every Day Counts website, the initiative provides resources for schools, parents and the community to promote and support student attendance at school, every school day.