IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/reihed/v61y2020i7d10.1007_s11162-019-09563-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Geographic Inequalities and Access to Higher Education: Is the Proximity to Higher Education Institution Associated with the Probability of Attendance in England?

Author

Listed:
  • Peter M. White

    (Manchester Metropolitan University)

  • David M. Lee

    (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Abstract

The relationship between geography and the selection of university is well documented and suggests that a student’s location substantially limits their choice of institution. However, there are few studies investigating the interplay between geography and the decision to attend university, particularly in the UK. This study aims to establish if distance to university is associated with the probability of enrolling in higher education in England and forms the quantitative half of a mixed-methods study on the subject. An ordinal logistic regression analysis of HESA enrollment data, which controls for deprivation, is employed. The investigation uses average direct measures of distance between each census area and university campus in England to determine the relationship between distance and enrollment. The findings suggest that geographical distance to university has a negative association with university enrollment. Students within the 10 km measure had a significantly increased odds of enrolling at university than students in the 40 km and above category (odds ratio 10.89; 95% CI 1–2), when controlling for deprivation and population density. It is hoped that the findings of this research will help to raise awareness of geographical inequalities and inform policy on university access.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter M. White & David M. Lee, 2020. "Geographic Inequalities and Access to Higher Education: Is the Proximity to Higher Education Institution Associated with the Probability of Attendance in England?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 61(7), pages 825-848, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:61:y:2020:i:7:d:10.1007_s11162-019-09563-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11162-019-09563-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11162-019-09563-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11162-019-09563-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carla Sá & Raymond Florax & Piet Rietveld, 2006. "Does Accessibility to Higher Education Matter? Choice Behaviour of High School Graduates in the Netherlands," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 155-174.
    2. Marc Frenette, 2004. "Access to College and University: Does Distance to School Matter?," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 30(4), pages 427-443, December.
    3. Zhang, Aihua, 2018. "New Findings on Key Factors Influencing the UK’s Referendum on Leaving the EU," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 304-314.
    4. Spiess, C. Katharina & Wrohlich, Katharina, 2010. "Does distance determine who attends a university in Germany?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 470-479, June.
    5. Jake Anders, 2012. "What's the link between household income and going to university?," DoQSS Working Papers 12-01, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    6. Haroon Chowdry & Claire Crawford & Lorraine Dearden & Alissa Goodman & Anna Vignoles, 2013. "Widening participation in higher education: analysis using linked administrative data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(2), pages 431-457, February.
    7. Jake Anders, 2012. "The Link between Household Income, University Applications and University Attendance," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 33(2), pages 185-210, June.
    8. Marc Frenette, 2006. "Too Far to Go On? Distance to School and University Participation," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 31-58.
    9. Susan Dynarski & Judith Scott-Clayton, 2013. "Financial Aid Policy: Lessons from Research," NBER Working Papers 18710, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xianbo Li, 2022. "Sequence Model and Prediction for Sustainable Enrollments in Chinese Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-25, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gibbons, Stephen & Vignoles, Anna, 2009. "Access, choice and participation in higher education," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 23656, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Polina Bugakova & Ilya Prakhov, 2020. "Regional Accessibility Of Higher Education In Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 58/EDU/2020, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    3. Sørensen, Elise Stenholt & Høst, Anders Kamp, 2015. "Does distance determine who is in higher education?," MPRA Paper 74517, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Delaney, Judith M. & Devereux, Paul J., 2020. "Choosing differently? College application behavior and the persistence of educational advantage," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. D. Flannery & J. Cullinan, 2014. "Where they go, what they do and why it matters: the importance of geographic accessibility and social class for decisions relating to higher education institution type, degree level and field of study," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(24), pages 2952-2965, August.
    6. Philipp Gareis & Tom Broekel, 2022. "The Spatial Patterns of Student Mobility Before, During and After the Bologna Process in Germany," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 113(3), pages 290-309, July.
    7. Clifford Afoakwah & Isaac Koomson, 2021. "How does school travel time impact children’s learning outcomes in a developing country?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1077-1097, December.
    8. Berardino Cesi & Dimitri Paolini, 2014. "Peer Group and Distance: When Widening University Participation is Better," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82, pages 110-132, December.
    9. Marina Della Giusta & Sarah Jewell & Danica Vukadinovic Greetham, 2017. "Beliefs, Exams and Social Media: A Study of Girls and Boys in the UK," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2017-02, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    10. Barbara Boelmann, 2024. "Women's Missing Mobility and the Gender Gap in Higher Education: Evidence from Germany's University Expansion," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_518, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    11. Adamecz-Völgyi, Anna & Henderson, Morag & Shure, Nikki, 2020. "Is ‘first in family’ a good indicator for widening university participation?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Stefano STAFFOLANI & Claudia PIGINI, 2012. "Enrolment Decision and University Choice;of Italian Secondary School Graduates," Working Papers 380, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    13. Barbara Boelmann, 2024. "Women’s Missing Mobility and the Gender Gap in Higher Education: Evidence from Germany’s University Expansion," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 280, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    14. Schmidt, Alejandro & Ortúzar, Juan de Dios & Paredes, Ricardo D., 2019. "Heterogeneity and college choice: Latent class modelling for improved policy making," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    15. Robert K. Toutkoushian & Stephen Mayfield & Samantha M. R. Jelks, 2024. "Destiny Unbound: A Look at How Far from Home Students Go to College," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 65(6), pages 1085-1111, September.
    16. John Cullinan & Darragh Flannery & Sharon Walsh & Selina Mccoy, 2013. "Distance Effects, Social Class and the Decision to Participate in Higher Education in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 44(1), pages 19-51.
    17. Uzma Ahmad & Steven McIntosh & Gurleen Popli, 2022. "Selection and performance in post‐compulsory education," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 3-31, February.
    18. Jungmin Lee & Frank Fernandez & Hyun Kyoung Ro & Hongwook Suh, 2022. "Does Dual Enrollment Influence High School Graduation, College Enrollment, Choice, and Persistence?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(5), pages 825-848, August.
    19. Felix Ehrenfried & Thomas A. Fackler & Valentin Lindlacher & Thomas Fackler, 2022. "New Region, New Chances: Does Moving Regionally for University Shape Later Job Mobility?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9922, CESifo.
    20. Gibbons, Stephen & Vignoles, Anna, 2012. "Geography, choice and participation in higher education in England," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 98-113.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:61:y:2020:i:7:d:10.1007_s11162-019-09563-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.