Higher education students’ aspirations for their post-university lives: evidence from six European nations
- Achala Gupta, University of Surrey
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While there is now a relatively large literature on young people’s aspirations with respect to their transitions from compulsory schooling, the body of work on the aspirations of those within higher education is rather less well-developed. This is likely to be related to the relative absence of policy activity in this area, underpinned by policymakers’ assumptions that university provides a smooth pathway, for those who secure access, to professional employment. This presentation draws on data from undergraduate students in six European countries to explore their hopes for their post-university lives. It demonstrates that although aspirations for employment were discussed most frequently, non-economic plans and desires were also important. Moreover, despite significant commonalities across the six nations, aspirations were also differentiated, to some extent at least, by national context, institutional setting and subject of study.
While there is now a relatively large literature on young people’s aspirations with respect to their transitions from compulsory schooling, the body of work on the aspirations of those within higher education is rather less well-developed. This is likely to be related to the relative absence of policy activity in this area, underpinned by policymakers’ assumptions that university provides a smooth pathway, for those who secure access, to professional employment. This presentation draws on data from undergraduate students in six European countries to explore their hopes for their post-university lives. It demonstrates that although aspirations for employment were discussed most frequently, non-economic plans and desires were also important. Moreover, despite significant commonalities across the six nations, aspirations were also differentiated, to some extent at least, by national context, institutional setting and subject of study.
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Achala Gupta has recently joined the Sociology Department at the University of Surrey as a Research Fellow. Previously, she was based at the UCL Institute of Education. Her current research focusses on education delivery systems, schooling practices, and the processes of social reproduction. Achala manages the student strand of the ERC-funded Eurostudents project (led by Rachel Brooks) that explores constructions of higher education students in six European countries.
Achala has a PhD in Sociology and has previously worked at the Asia Research Institute (National University of Singapore). She completed her MPhil in Educational Studies from the University of Cambridge. Achala’s doctoral research – an ethnographic account of mainstream education from the vantage point of private tutoring in contemporary India – has been published in the British Journal of Sociology of Education and Critical Studies in Education.
