Background

The Sutton Trust is seeking to commission a research project on the role of higher education in social mobility internationally, with a focus on policy learnings for the United Kingdom and United States. This will provide the basis for an international conference held in London in November 2025, supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Brief

The project is intended as a major piece of research exploring the role that Higher Education is playing in social mobility internationally – looking at examples of countries with high and low mobility and how HE systems are contributing to that. This would build on existing understanding of access and participation globally, including extensive work by the OECD, as well as work by the Centre for Global Higher Education, and the Sutton Trust itself. While much of the literature focuses on participation rates, this project would also look at outcomes for mobility. Work by the Opportunity Insights project at Harvard, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies in the UK provide a template, but this would take a wider view, including considering a range of countries including the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, other countries in continental Europe, as well as East Asia. The ultimate aim will be to draw policy learnings from other countries to inform policy in the UK, and the US.

The research would take a comparative international perspective, looking at the state of play, including recent developments and upcoming challenges, with a particular focus on socio-economic inequalities, in:

  • Access and widening participation
  • Higher education funding and student finance
  • The relationship and balance between higher and technical education routes
  • The role of higher education in intergenerational mobility

Much of this work is likely to involve desk research and reviews of literature, summarising existing evidence, both research literature as well as official government data, as well as building relationships with key informants in different countries that will ensure robust insights into different systems and challenges faced by those countries, cognisant of their context. Analysis of relevant secondary quantitative datasets where possible may also be helpful. The report should also include case studies on policies or approaches of particular interest in specific countries.

Outputs

The main output from this project will be a policy-focused research report, published by the Sutton Trust and supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Trust will work with authors to disseminate the findings from this report across traditional and digital media. There will also be opportunities to present on the findings at the conference.

Budget

Proposed budgets should come in under £60,000, including overheads/estate costs and VAT.

Eligibility

Academics, research organisations and independent researchers, as well as consortia of several of these, can apply. As the ultimate focus of the research is on learnings for the UK, the preference would be for a team at least partially based in the UK, but international collaboration is encouraged, given the nature of the project.

Applications

Expressions of interest should be submitted to [email protected] by 5pm on Monday 9 December. It should include:

  • A short view of the background policy context
  • An outline of the research approach and methods to answer the research questions
  • A list of proposed team members, along with a short description of their background and relevant experience, as well as the CV of the Principal Investigator.
  • A proposed timeline. Please allow for at least 4 weeks between submission of the final draft and publication. The report should be published in advance of or to coincide with the conference in November 2025. The proposal should therefore outline the approach the team will take to ensure the project remains on track.
  • An indicative budget, including breakdowns under broad categories.

Applications will be judged according to the following criteria:

  • Expertise of team in this subject area
  • Experience of international comparisons
  • Relationships and connections with international stakeholders
  • Appropriateness of proposed methods
  • Feasibility, timescale and project management
  • Budget and value for money

One or more applications will be selected for a second stage involving an in person or online meeting to discuss the proposed project in more detail.

About the Sutton Trust

The Sutton Trust fights for social mobility from birth to the workplace so that every young person – no matter who their parents are, what school they go to, or where they live – has the chance to succeed in life.

We support young people directly through our evidence-led programmes, whilst conducting research on the barriers to and drivers of social mobility. Our research findings and policy recommendations keep Britain’s social mobility challenge high on the agenda for government and the media.

Our five priority areas recognise that disadvantage starts before birth through to adulthood. These are:

  • Early years
  • Schools
  • Higher education
  • Apprenticeships
  • Access to the workplace

About the Carnegie Corporation of New York

Carnegie Corporation of New York is one of America’s oldest grantmaking foundations.

Established in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. Today the foundation works to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for the issues that Carnegie considered most important: education, democracy, and peace.