ABSTRACT
The Socio-Cultural and Learning Experiences of Working-Class Students project (ESRC RES-139-25-0208) is mainly a qualitative study but also utilised a quantitative questionnaire with a cross-section of students. The focus was on undergraduate students, in years 1 and 2, 18 years and above and took place in four very different higher education institutions. These are: Northern, a post-1992 university; Midland, a pre-1992, civic, university; Southern, which we describe as an elite university; and Eastern College of further education where students were undertaking Foundation Degrees in conjunction with Northern University (see Table A3.1)
It was our intention to look at the same subjects in each university given the hierarchy that exists between subjects but this was not always possible because of difficulties with access. We focused on six disciplinary areas in the three universities – law, engineering, history, chemistry, English, economics – and three Foundation subjects at Eastern College – performing arts, arboriculture, early childhood studies.
