Higher education is a term that is used in distinguishing courses of study that result in the award of a diploma, degree or a similar advanced qualification (Marginson, 2006). Higher education entails the education stage which begins after schooling for fifteen years for the intellectual work and advanced students’ training for an effective and an efficient role in leadership in all walks of national life (Teichler, 2004). Higher education involves all education that is above the level of secondary school. They include colleges, professional schools, universities graduate schools, normal schools and ethical colleges. The aim of higher education is to attain the socio-cultural and developmental needs of a country (Enders, 2004). Through higher education, individuals are presented with the opportunity to develop their potential (Teferra & Altbachl, 2004). As a result, through higher education, the society is presented with individuals who are morally sound and are capable of multifarious roles in the society.
The United Kingdom has a vast variety of opportunities in higher education for a wide range of students with over 100 universities offering a variety of degree programs (Yorke & Longden, 2008). In the United Kingdom, there are four levels of education during enrolment, namely, first degree, postgraduate research, postgraduate taught and other undergraduate levels as per the classification of the Higher Education Statistical Agency (Scott, 2005). In this regard, the following study aims to determine the relationship between these higher education academic levels.
The following hypothesis was developed:
The progression rate from the first degree to the postgraduate taught is higher than the progression rate from the postgraduate taught to the postgraduate research.
Data that was used was obtained from online sources and represented all the recorded number of students who enrolled in the various levels of higher education. Thus, the researcher opted to use the whole population size and not sample sizes.
Data on student’s enrolment was secondary in nature, having been collected from the internet (Vartanian, 2010). The data was primarily obtained from the Higher Education Students Agency (HESA) student records. The sight is used by colleges, universities and other higher education providers on an annual basis. HESA collects data on students which cover data about their personal characteristics, modules of study and course, and the qualifications that they have achieved.
Due to the progression of students from one level of higher education academic level to the next, it is predicted that the progression rate of students from the first degree to the postgraduate taught is higher than the progression rate of students from the postgraduate taught to the postgraduate research.
Since the data was secondary in nature and readily available, there was no need for using a questionnaire to obtain desired data. Data that was obtained from HESA s as shown in the table below.
Table 1: First-year Higher education students’ enrolments by the level of study
Academic year Postgraduate research Postgraduate taught First degree Other undergraduate
2007/08 28,905 248,675 458,560 332,335
2008/09 30,320 276,335 494,050 344,145
2009/10 32,985 300,680 518,905 332,685
2010/11 34,400 300,945 518,090 291,995
2011/12 34,775 282,425 552,235 247,895
2012/13 34,570 271,475 495,325 170,880
2013/14 36,240 281,895 521,990 155,615
2014/15 36,320 281,440 526,885 144,240
2015/16 35,975 282,090 542,575 131,485
2016/17 35,340 308,985 548,415 120,745
From the table above, it is evident that most students who enroll in institutions of higher learning in the United Kingdom are first degree. The least enrolment can be seen n postgraduate research.
Trend analysis
Over the years, the number of students’ enrolment in the higher education space in the United Kingdom has been changing. The trend can be seen in the figure below:
Figure 1: First-year Higher education students’ enrolments by the level of study
From the figure above, it is evident that most student enrolment has been in the first degree while the least enrolment can be seen in the postgraduate research. However, the four levels show contrasting trends over the years from 2007/08 to 2016/17. The postgraduate research level has been relatively constant over the years. However, a different sight can be seen for the other three levels. Postgraduate taught has been on the increase from 2007/08 to 2009/10. However, from 2010/11 to 2016/16 the enrolment has been decreasing marginally but then picking up in 2015/16 to 2016/17. The other undergraduate level is very different from postgraduate research and postgraduate taught. The enrolment numbers in the other undergraduate level have been on the decrease. The first-degree trend is very promising as it can be seen that the enrolment numbers have been on the rise since 2007/08 till 2016/17. However, there was a short drop in the enrolment numbers in 2011/12 but the numbers picked up positively to realize a new high in 2016/17 of 548,415 compared to the previous high in 2011/12 of 552,235.
To further delve into the details of the data, descriptive analysis was obtained. The output is a shown in Table 2 below:
Table 2: Descriptive analysis
Postgraduate research Postgraduate taught First degree Other undergraduate
Mean 33983 283494.5 517703 227202
Median 34672.5 281992.5 520447.5 209387.5
Standard Deviation 2532.247794 17216.4236 28706.79 91987.93
Kurtosis 0.551589948 0.86662557 0.64242 -2.06269
Skewness -1.245819328 -0.47310577 -0.85088 0.18127
Range 7415 60310 93675 223400
The postgraduate research has a mean of 33,983 number of students with a standard deviation of 2,532. The range of the postgraduate research is 7,415 with a median of 34,673. Consequently, the postgraduate taught has a mean of 283,495 number of students with a standard deviation of 17,216. The range of the postgraduate taught is 60,310 with a median of 281,993.
The first-degree level has a mean of 517,703 number of students with a standard deviation of 28,707. The range of the first-degree level is 93,675 with a median of 520,448. On the other hand, other undergraduate level has a mean of 227,202 number of students with a standard deviation of 91,988. The range of the other undergraduate level is 223,400 with a median of 209,388.
To determine the proportion of the students’ enrolment in the United Kingdom universities, the following chart was developed as seen below:
From the chart above it is evident that the most level of education with the highest number of students is the first degree. Over the years from 2007/08 to 2016/17, the first degree level of education has been the most dominant. The trend cannot be seen to slow down any time soon thereby making the first degree a potential pool for future students for the other level of education. The other undergraduate level is the second dominant that is till 2012/13. The undergraduate can be seen to lose its popularity as the first-degree level continues to gain popularity. Therefore, it can be deduced that more students in the United Kingdom are opting for the first-degree level. Moreover, more students are also getting exemplary qualifications making them legible for the first degree without undergoing the other undergraduate level such as diploma courses. As the students get to clear their first degree, the number of students who opt to join the postgraduate taught lessens significantly. Thus, it can be deduced that the progression level from the first degree to postgraduate taught is low. However, throughout the years, these numbers can be seen as increasing rather marginally but the trend is encouraging. The dynamics of the modern workplace and economy requires people with a high skill set. Thus, this is forcing more people to get a further education rather than settling on their first degrees or other undergraduate qualifications. Such trends are bound to increase the numbers of those enrolling in postgraduate taught. The progression rate from postgraduate taught to postgraduate research decreases even further compared to the progression rate from the first degree to the postgraduate research. The number of students who opt for postgraduate research is very small compared to the other three levels of education at the university level in the United Kingdom. Thus, it can be deduced that most of the students who have passed the postgraduate taught tend to prefer less for the postgraduate research. Therefore, more needs to be done to ensure that the postgraduate research numbers can be improved in a bid to match it with the postgraduate taught.
Conclusion and future improvements
From the study above, it can be seen that most of the tests have been proven correct in accordance with the predictions. However, it has been seen that the progression levels of the students through the four levels have been decreasing. Thus, policies are needed to be put in place to encourage more students to pursue further levels of education as knowledge is power. The study may have limitations since only data used was from 2007/08 to 2017/18. To improve the study, future researchers should consider using data from as far back as possible to make the research more accurate.
Reference:
Enders, J., 2004. Higher education, internationalization, and the nation-state: Recent developments and challenges to governance theory. Higher education, 47(3), pp.361-382.
Marginson, S., 2006. Dynamics of national and global competition in higher education. Higher education, 52(1), pp.1-39.
Scott, P., 2005. The globalization of higher education. In Higher Education Re-formed (pp. 101-118). Routledge.
Teferra, D. and Altbachl, P.G., 2004. African higher education: Challenges for the 21st century. Higher education, 47(1), pp.21-50.
Teichler, U., 2004. The changing debate on internationalization of higher education. Higher education, 48(1), pp.5-26.
Vartanian, T.P., 2010. Secondary data analysis. Oxford University Press.
Yorke, M. and Longden, B., 2008. The first-year experience in higher education in the UK. York: Higher Education Academy.
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