Who gets what? Understanding UK doctoral degree outcomes in terms of graduates’ background characteristics and prior higher education experience

This project aims to generate a better understanding of ‘who gets what’ from doctoral study, by linking the outcomes of recent UK doctoral holders to their socio-economic background characteristics and prior higher education experience. A quantitative analysis of linked data from the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey and the HESA Student Record will be undertaken, to answer the following three research questions:

1) To what extent do doctoral outcomes differ by higher education institution (HEI) and subject?
2) To what extent do doctoral outcomes differ by graduates’ prior academic experience?
3) To what extent do doctoral outcomes differ by graduates’ background characteristics?

The project will run for 12 months, from September 2016.