upReach 2024-27 Stategy - Flipbook - Page 4
Section 1: Why we need to unlock potential
Social mobility: a wake-up call
The UK has a persistent social mobility problem.
Getting a good degree is not enough to secure a top graduate job that offers career progression,
昀椀nancial stability, and societal in昀氀uence1.
Amongst Russell Group
universities, students from a
working-class background
who graduate with a 昀椀rst-class
degree are less likely to secure
an elite job than more privileged
students who received a 2:22.
Even when working-class
students enter professional
occupations, on average they
earn £6,291 a year less than their
advantaged peers in the same
jobs, essentially working one in
every eight days for free3.
This issue is referred to as the “Progression Gap”, and there can be several root causes.
For students from low income backgrounds, socio-economic barriers can restrict access to:
Commercial
awareness and
knowledge
of different
available career
pathways
Professional
networks
acquired
through school
and family
connections
Work
experience
needed to build
professional
experience and
digital skills
Extra-curricular
activities that
build crucial
soft skills like
leadership and
communciation
An applicant’s socio-economic background has a highly signi昀椀cant effect on their chance
of attaining a well-paying job. Addressing this inequality is one of the key challenges of
our time – if we don’t ‘bridge the gap’, the best talent will remain untapped.
– Professor Louise Ashley, Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Work,
Queen Mary University of London
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