New campaign highlights the success stories of local students who were the first in their family to attend university

The extraordinary success of one student who was the first in her family to attend university is being highlighted as part of a new national campaign.

Universities UK’s (UUK) ‘100 Faces campaign’ aims to champion and celebrate the positive impact of ‘first-in-the-family’ (FitF) graduates on the UK – including England footballer Beth Mead, Lord David Blunkett, Nobel Prize winner Sir Chris Pissarides and actor Amit Shah – to highlight the need for access to support and ensure the next generation can reach their graduate potential.

One of the 100 Faces is 37-year-old single mother of four Esther Stimpson. She won the Max Engel Memorial Bursary after completing her two-year accelerated law degree and is now embarking upon a PhD examining maternity services in prisons.

Since graduating, Esther has been working as a Project Manager and Healthwatch Lead for Northamptonshire Healthwatch. She says: “I felt really touched I was picked to receive the award and my hard work was recognised. I gave up my full-time jobs, so I also had the financial challenge, but the University has been really supportive.

“They gave me the confidence and skills that I was unable to gain elsewhere. Going to university has been beneficial to me as I progress my future and for my family. It will impact my children and I support them as they progress through education.

“I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do next other than my PhD, but I didn’t know I’d be here four years ago, so who knows!”

As part of the campaign, new research reveals the transformative impact of going to university on ambition, with almost three-quarters (73%) of FitF students agreeing their degree gave them the confidence to apply for jobs without feeling like an imposter.

The research also highlights FitF students’ reliance on depreciating financial support – without financial support, over 4 in 10 FitF graduates couldn’t have afforded to go to university at all. This is equivalent to around 1.1 million 24–40-year-olds in England and Wales.

With financial provisions dwindling and the cost of living rising, UUK calls for the Government to reinstate maintenance grants and increase support for future students.

UUK’s findings come from extensive new research, commissioned by Universities UK, into the experiences of 6,004 UK graduates and 4,006 non-graduates, aged 24-40, from across the UK.

The success of students like Esther is testament to the extraordinary role university can play – particularly for those students who are the first in their family to attend and face significant barriers before they even set foot on campus.

Despite this inequality, FitF students flourish at university – with three-quarters of FitF respondents saying that their experiences at university made them more confident and ambitious, gave them broader life experiences and crucial life skills which continue to be impactful long after graduation.

However, the research also pointed to the need for uplifted financial support to ensure that FitF students can progress. Over 4 in 10 (41%) FitF students believe that without financial assistance they wouldn’t have been able to afford to go to university, and when non-graduates from across the UK were asked what might have persuaded them to attend university, almost half (48%) responded more financial support.

Many graduates responding to this survey were eligible for non-repayable maintenance grants as students, which were replaced by repayable loans, in England in 2016. However, maintenance grants continue to operate in Wales, Scotland and for some healthcare courses in England.

UUK is campaigning to highlight the achievements of the extraordinary first-in-family graduates in every community and to ensure that future generations don’t miss out on the transformative impact of a university education.

Vivienne Stern MBE, Chief Executive of Universities UK, commented: “There are those who say that too many people go to university. I disagree. These stories tell you why. In this country you are still twice as likely to go to university if you are from the wealthiest background, compared to the least wealthy. That’s not right.”

“The experiences of students who are the first in their families to have been to university tell a powerful story. I am amazed by how many graduates talked about having imposter syndrome – and the way that earning a degree helped to banish that feeling. I believe we have a responsibility to keep working to ensure a wider range of people in this country get access to the potentially transformative experience of going to university. For that to happen, we really do need to see an improvement in maintenance support to support those from the least privileged backgrounds.”

See our Access and Participation Plans (APP) for how we will sustain or improve access, student success and progression among people from under-represented and disadvantaged groups.

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