Rachel Brooks

@rachelbrooks.bsky.social: “Despite a lot of policy activity, HE has not led to widespread increases in social mobility. While, for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, HE does lead to improved outcomes relative to non-graduate peers, family background continues to exert significant influence.

🔈New research: Despite significant efforts to widen access to higher education, social mobility is flatlining or declining across wealthier countries.

In the UK and US, university is still the dominant route to higher earnings from less advantaged backgrounds.

Read more ⬇️
shorturl.at/eHto0

💬 Lead author, @rachelbrooks.bsky.social, said: “While, for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, higher education does lead to improved outcomes relative to non-graduate peers, family background continues to exert significant influence."

The report was published by @suttontrust.bsky.social

📣 New report: Despite efforts to widen access to higher education, social mobility is flatlining or declining across wealthier countries

Students whose parents did not attend university remain 45% less likely to reach the top earnings quintile than those with graduate parents.

➡️ bit.ly/4oE8YSK

Julia Cook, Dan Woodman & Rachel Brooks How does providing financial and practical support to young adult children impact upon their parents’ present-day lives and future plans? https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00380261251390989 The Sociological Review #OnlineFirst

What happens when intensive forms of parenting extend into young adulthood?

@juliacook.bsky.social @drdanwoodman.bsky.social @rachelbrooks.bsky.social take a look at intergenerational support, independence and the risk of downward mobility.

#OpenAccess @journals.sagepub.com buff.ly/21dX1A0

We enjoyed talking about our Students and Politics project at the annual poster conference of Oxford’s Department of Education @education.ox.ac.uk yesterday!

Many thanks to Franziska Lessky for designing our poster!

@rachelbrooks.bsky.social @rilleraaper.bsky.social

Great to see our Students and Politics project featured in Oxford’s Department of Education! @education.ox.ac.uk

Do have a read….

@rachelbrooks.bsky.social @rilleraaper.bsky.social

Oh Mandy … | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine Some of us are old enough to remember where we were every time Peter Mandelson resigned. His departures from high office are like royal weddings: a chance to freeze a moment in our nation’s long story...

‘The author David Nicholls is rumoured to be working on a novel about a star-crossed couple who run into each other over the decades on the days Mandelson quits.’
Ouch from @roberthutton.co.uk
thecritic.co.uk/oh-mandy/

Forthcoming in Spring 2026:

@rachelbrooks.bsky.social
@brisunipress.bsky.social
@uclgeography.bsky.social

#internationalstudentmobilities

We’re delighted to announce that Professor @rachelbrooks.bsky.social (Professor of Higher Education) has been appointed to the Education sub-panel of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029 @ref2029.bsky.social.

Read more: bit.ly/3JESI4q

Britain’s statistics scandal means it cannot answer its most pressing questions More and more of the numbers needed to guide policy are going dark

Britain is ‘increasingly rudderless’ as its statistical system is unable to answer core questions - powerful column by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com which shows the nation’s data problems can open the door for populist claims
on.ft.com/4mpFAyh

Job alert! Join us at @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social as a postdoctoral fellow to work on your own research for three years. #sociology

Abstract submissions are now invited for the BSA’s 75th anniversary conference, 8-10 April 2026, University of Edinburgh. Take part in ‘75 Years of Sociology’ – a fixture in the sociological calendar unlike any other. Submission deadline: 3 October 2025 tinyurl.com/23sjk4nh #sociology

Abstract submissions are now invited for the BSA’s 75th anniversary conference, 8-10 April 2026, University of Edinburgh. Take part in ‘75 Years of Sociology’ – a fixture in the sociological calendar unlike any other. Submission deadline: 3 October 2025 tinyurl.com/23sjk4nh #sociology

Sociology at Nuffield College invites applications for academic visitors during the 2026-27 academic year www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/our-research...

Understanding University Finances ... a very short guide

‘Much of what universities spend a great deal of time discussing - such as global strategy, impact & innovation, development & philanthropy - even research… [has] very little effect on the bottom line.’
Useful primer on HE finance by @profserious.bsky.social
profserious.substack.com/p/understand...

BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen has confirmed that the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City has been killed.

YouTube video by Oxford Department of Sociology Halsey Lecture 2025: What is a student? Perspectives from across Europe | Professor Rachel Brooks

🎓 In the 1st Halsey Lecture, Prof Rachel Brooks takes us across 6 European countries - from policy docs to plasticine models.

What she finds is surprising: student identity in Europe isn’t homogenised, but shaped by history, context, culture & class.

Watch now! 📽️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHYO...

Open letter: Request for biometric deferral and safe evacuation of incoming Palestinian students and scholars from Gaza to UK Universities More than 40 students currently trapped in Gaza with full scholarships to UK Universities are asking for a safe route to come and study. We, the academic community hoping to welcome these scholars, ca...

More than 40 students currently trapped in Gaza with full scholarships to UK Universities are asking for a safe route to come and study. Please sign and share ⬇️ docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

More US students choosing UK universities after Trump attacks on higher education Latest admissions data shows 14% rise in American applications for undergraduate courses

A record number of Americans have applied to undergraduate courses at UK universities - a 14% rise from last year and the highest number since records began in 2006
on.ft.com/4kFC5Ct

Chart showing proportion of the working-age population who are economically inactive due to ill health, by single year of age: UK

People in their early twenties are now more likely to be out of work due to ill health than those in their early forties.

Read The good, the bad and the messy here 👉 buff.ly/0O2OHhy

Take part in ‘75 Years of Sociology’ – a fixture in the sociological calendar unlike any other. Abstract submissions are invited for the BSA's 75th anniversary conference, 8-10 April 2026, University of Edinburgh, submission deadline: 3 October 2025 https://tinyurl.com/23sjk4nh #sociology

Take part in ‘75 Years of Sociology’ – a fixture in the sociological calendar unlike any other. Abstract submissions are invited for the BSA's 75th anniversary conference, 8-10 April 2026, University of Edinburgh. Submission deadline: 3 October 2025 tinyurl.com/23sjk4nh #sociology

Thanks - will look forward to reading!

Sorry you didn’t get a chance to present your paper in this session! Would like to have heard it 😊 Is it published anywhere?

What stops #wideningparticipation students taking or succeeding in sandwich 🥪courses? Great to discuss at #isaforum25 learning from international colleagues at the RC04 with @rachelbrooks.bsky.social.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
@isa-sociology.org @surreylib.bsky.social @education.ox.ac.uk

International student activism histories show how education can foster democracy The very presence of international students on university campuses is a political matter that depends on a measure of good will between the host and home countries.

Just published an article in The Conversation on international student activism & the politics of higher ed that follows up on the book we published last year in light of the current targeting of international students in the US theconversation.com/internationa... @uvicsocialsciences.bsky.social

Congratulations to Professor @rachelbrooks.bsky.social on being awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship 🎉

The award will enable her to travel to Australia and the US to research the ways in which access to international student mobility can be made more equitable 🌍

Read more ➡️ bit.ly/4lyn1Y5

We’re a new BSA Forum supporting sociologists navigating the mid-career stage. Co-convened by @katyjmc.bsky.social and @drfloraposte.bsky.social we’re building a space for solidarity, strategy, and shared stories. For more: www.britsoc.co.uk/groups/speci... and keep watch for an online Launch Event.

NEW: 6 in 10 top achievers outside of London leave their home town by their early 30s.

Read @xiaoweixu.bsky.social's new report on geographical inequalities in the UK, funded by ADR UK: ifs.org.uk/publications...

Home Welcome to Academics’ Wives Welcome to Academics’ Wives Academics’ Wives is a British Academy / Leverhulme funded research project exploring the contribution made by wives of social investiga...

Our sociologists’ wives research is helping to set the record straight about whose shoulders British sociologists are standing on. Wives collected and analysed data, edited and co-authored. Visit our website to find out more, and …1/6
academicswives.co.uk

Many congratulations to Leila Pinto-Campillo who successfully defended her thesis on 5/6. She completed a #PhDinHEREE and was supervised by @carolynjackson.bsky.social. Many thanks to the Examiners Malcolm Tight and @rachelbrooks.bsky.social. @centreforhere.bsky.social