(Image: Hope Holmes)
New research suggests the UK’s STEM postgraduate pipeline is leaving behind thousands of high-achieving students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
The report from the Martingale Foundation, the Royal Society, Wellcome Trust and Pousaz Philanthropies estimates that, from 2015 to 2023, unequal progression rates cost the UK more than 5,600 potential STEM postgraduate researchers – nearly 700 a year.
If disadvantaged high achievers progressed at the same rate as their advantaged peers in this period, and if places on programmes had kept pace with the talent on offer, the study found that the UK could have seen a 41% increase in the number of STEM master's students and a 52% increase in STEM PhD students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.
Researchers warned that this equality barrier threatens the UK’s research capacity in areas such as AI, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and other key STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines.
Professor John McKendrick, Commissioner for Fair Access in Scotland, said the country needs highly skilled STEM professionals for the economy to prosper, and the report should spur the sector to action.
"This timely report is a wake-up call to those responsible for higher education - the full potential of our national talent is not being realised and we must do more to facilitate access to advanced postgraduate study for those with talent, but with less means."
Experiences and economics create barriers for students
The study recorded comments from some students describing the barriers they face, including limited information about progression routes, difficulty accessing practical support, and financial pressures, such as incentives to take relatively high-paying jobs upon graduation rather than pursuing further study.
Authors suggest that the equality barriers could be depriving the UK of researchers, technicians, and engineers. (Image: Cancer Research UK)
Some recommendations included changes to how funding bodies track and report on postgraduate students. This included extending universities’ widening access frameworks and incentives to postgraduate studies, which could carry grant implications and help track student trends more efficiently.
The report also suggested treating PhD candidates in STEM as “researchers in training”, with more financial security and transparency. This included suggestions that doctoral students have access to parental and carers’ leave, sickness and return-to-work arrangements, and cost-of-living support, as well as up-front payments for travel, accommodation, and conference costs rather than reimbursement.
The Martingale Foundation’s study looked at 400,000 UK-domiciled students studying STEM at UK universities between 2015/2016 and 2022/2023. It found that students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds make up 23.8% of STEM undergraduates, and the percentage decreases with each higher level of study (19.9% of STEM master’s students and 17.8% of STEM PhD students).
Analysis of students’ academic performance against their socioeconomic status found that, among students with a first or 2:1, 69.6% of those from low-socioeconomic backgrounds leave the STEM pipeline after completing their undergraduate degree, compared with 57.3% of equally qualified students from high-socioeconomic backgrounds.
The gap is slightly narrower at the PhD level for students with similar degrees.
Access to STEM PhDs is more unequal than in most subjects, according to the study: the biggest disparities in progression between advantaged and disadvantaged students are in maths, physics and chemistry, with only arts showing a wider gap.
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The study defined socioeconomic status primarily using the Office for National Statistics’ National Statistics Socio-economic Classifications (NS-SEC).
It is based on parental occupation, split into high, medium, and low categories, and the study also used additional analysis based on parental education.
'Crucial data' to spur action
Royal Society of Edinburgh President Sir Anton Muscatelli said the report highlights the "sizeable" barriers to PhD- and master's-level education in STEM.
“Scotland has all of the components for a revived industrial future already within our gift. Multiple university start-ups and spin-outs hold the potential for real and sustainable economic growth – this potential can only benefit greatly from breaking down these barriers to postgraduate study. The report is a very timely call to action for funders, universities and industry to work together to address this important area of widening access.”
Professor Bernd Schroers FRSE, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, echoed the call to action.
"Much better coordination across the sectors is required to overcome the socioeconomic barriers to STEM postgraduate study so clearly identified in the report. "
Patricia Anderson, Development Manager of Scotland’s Community of Access and Participation Practitioners (SCAPP), has called for widening access to extend beyond the undergraduate level.
"While Scotland has made progress in opening up higher education, students from lower-income backgrounds continue to face barriers to postgraduate and doctoral study.
"If we are to ensure that talent, not circumstance, determines who becomes a researcher, we must strengthen support and pathways into postgraduate education. This is essential for both social mobility and Scotland’s future research capacity."
Cassandra Hugill, Chief Executive of Martingale Foundation, said: “This report shows that PhDs are disproportionately inaccessible to those from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.
“Strengthening access to postgraduate STEM study is not just a matter of fairness but also an economic and societal necessity.
“The UK’s capability in sectors including AI, quantum, cybersecurity and fusion energy depends on the strongest possible pipeline of domestic talent.
“This issue demands urgent, coordinated action from government, funders and across higher education - otherwise, the UK risks its position as a research and innovation leader.”