Social Mobility Commission State of the Nation report 2016 - Birkbeck response
Professor David Latchman, CBE, Master of Birkbeck, responds to the latest report from the Social Mobility Commission.
Britain has a deep social mobility problem which is getting worse for an entire generation of young people, the Social Mobility Commission’s State of the Nation 2016 report has warned.
While the Commission found that some real progress has been made, it concludes that the twentieth-century expectation that each generation would be better off than the preceding one is no longer being met.
The report included specific mention of education, with recommendations around higher education measures which could boost social mobility.
Responding to the report, Professor David Latchman, CBE, Master of Birkbeck, said:
“We welcome the recognition given by the Commission that part-time student numbers continue to fall – a mode of study which is often the only option for working adults to retrain or upskill.
“While we hope future measures such as part-time maintenance loans will arrest some of that decline, we also believe that measures such as extending the Parents Learning Allowance to part-time higher education students would remove additional barriers to study.
“We hope the Government give this due consideration as part of the forthcoming Chancellor’s Autumn Statement”.
Further information: