An Exploration of the Link between Minority Ethnic and White Students’ Degree Attainment and Views of Their Future ‘Possible Selves’

Jacqueline Stevenson

doi:10.5539/hes.v2n4p103

Abstract

There is a significant gap in degree attainment between White and minority ethnic (ME) students in the UK as measured by the percentage awarded a ‘good’ degree. The causes for the gap are highly complex; however outcomes for ME students are lower than for their White peers across the whole of the UK higher education sector. This paper explores the extent to which students views of what they believe or expect they can become, their academic ‘possible selves’ (Markus and Nurius, 1986), may inform their academic help seeking strategies and their subsequent degree attainment. Drawing on group interviews with seventy full-time, undergraduate White and ME students studying at two UK ‘Russell group’ universities the research finds that a lack of congruence between hoped for, true and ‘ought to’ selves may be informing, and limiting, the academic help-seeking strategies of Black, Asian and Chinese students compared to their White peers.

Highlights

The percentage of UK-domiciled Minority Ethnic (ME) students studying in higher education (HE), at all levels, is statistically higher than that of White students (ECU, 2011)
This paper explores the extent to which students views of what they believe or expect they can become, their academic ‘possible selves’ (Markus and Nurius, 1986), may inform their academic help seeking strategies and their subsequent degree attainment
The students were highly aware, due to media reporting, that there are over 80 graduates applying for every UK graduate job (AGR, 2011), with the vast majority of employers demanding that applicants have a minimum of a 2:i (BBC, 2010; The Guardian, 2012)

Summary

Introduction

The percentage of UK-domiciled Minority Ethnic (ME) students studying in higher education (HE), at all levels, is statistically higher than that of White students (ECU, 2011). Data shows that while 66.5% of White students studying first degrees receive a 1st or 2.ii honours degree, widely known in the UK as a ‘good degree’, only 49.2% of ME students and 38.1% of Black students did so (ECU, 2011). Research by both the former UK Department for Education and Skills (Broecke and Nicholls, 2007) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE, 2010) found that differences in the attainment between White and ME groups could only in some small part be explained by the differing profiles of the students (such as prior attainment, age, gender, disability, deprivation, type of HE institution attended). Outcomes for ME students are lower than for their White peers across the whole of the UK HE sector, including within Russell Group universities, the leading 24 UK research-intensive universities including Oxford and Cambridge

Methods

Results

Conclusion