School type as a discriminant in the geography of university applications in Great Britain

Abstract

Just as differences in school type, especially between the state-provided and private (independent) sector, are well-engrained features of Britain's secondary education system so there are reasons to expect them to play a major part too in admissions to its universities. After reviewing the structure of the admissions system a number of reasons are suggested whereby this might be structured geographically and also by social class, as represented by school type, in distance-decay terms and in the differential image attraction of particular universities, irrespective of distance. Empirical investigation of these suggestions follows, examining the geographies of university application and acceptance (enrolment) for state and independent pupils in Great Britain, as of 1988. The final section draws some implications with respect to the current national policy of higher education expansion.