There are two key motivations that underly my desire to study the role colleges play in tackling economic inequality. The first is a long-standing personal interest in understanding the causes and consequences of societal inequality. The second is an intuition that the economic impact colleges have in this area is only partially understood and is, ultimately, under-appreciated.
As ever, there is a case to be made that colleges represent a “Cinderella sector” when we talk about the role of education in tackling inequality. In a policy context, the recent drive to tackle inequality in educational outcomes in Scotland has focussed overwhelmingly on attempts to close the attainment gap in our schools and widen access to universities. Both are undoubtedly worthwhile policy goals but, in their pursuit, the role of colleges as a potential route from poverty and means by which to tackle pervasive economic inequality, has arguably been overlooked.
