CInSt Research Seminar "Intergenerational educational mobility to university: The role of non-cognitive skills": Nikki Shure (University College of London)

Nikki Shure (University College of London) has presented the paper "Intergenerational educational mobility to university: The role of non-cognitive skills" on the regular CInSt research seminar on May, 20. Watch the video of the seminar following the link below.

Abstract
Empirical evidence shows that children of non-graduated parents are less likely to go to university than those whose parents are graduated, even conditional on cognitive abilities and secondary school progression. Hence, several universities use first in family as a Widening Participation measure in the UK to encourage the higher education participation of students from this group. This paper looks at potential first in family graduates by investigating the role of non-cognitive skills behind intergenerational educational mobility to university. We find that conditional on cognitive abilities and various measures of socioeconomic background, having higher levels of non-cognitive skills in childhood is positively related to university attendance. The most important channel of this relationship seems to be educational attainment at the end of compulsory schooling, at age 16. Investigating the role of non-cognitive skills in age-16 exam scores reveals that non-cognitive skills might be just as important, and among boys, are even more important, than cognitive skills in university participation.

Information about the speaker
Video