Published
Sep 21, 2016Page count
224 pagesISBN
978-1447318248Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Sep 21, 2016Page count
224 pagesISBN
978-1447318231Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Sep 21, 2016Page count
224 pagesISBN
978-1447318286Dimensions
Imprint
Policy PressPublished
Sep 21, 2016Page count
224 pagesISBN
978-1447318279Dimensions
Imprint
Policy Press
Student Lives in Crisis
In the media
'Précarité étudiante : comment la combattre?' in arte
'Higher Education - Crisis or Change?' in Thinking Allowed
'Do UK universities cost more and deliver less?' in The Guardian
'Student loans ‘increasing the divide between rich and poor’' in The Guardian
In the greatest social change of the last twenty years about half of Europe’s young people now attend university. Their lived experiences are however largely undocumented.
Antonucci travelled across six cities and three European countries – England, Italy and Sweden – to provide the first ever comparison of the lives of university students across countries and socio-economic backgrounds. Contrasting students’ resources and backgrounds, this original work exposes the profound social effects of austerity and the financial crisis on young people.
Questionnaires and first person interviews reveal that, in contrast with what assumed by HE policies, participating in university exacerbates inequalities among young people. This work is a wake-up call for re-thinking the role of higher education in relation to social justice in European societies.
Lorenza Antonucci is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy/Sociology at Teesside University where she researches on inequality. Lorenza is also Research Associate at the European Social Observatory (OSE) in Brussels. She is co-editor of ‘Young People and Social Policy in Europe’ (2014). In 2015 she has been awarded with the Royal Society of Edinburgh Visiting Fellowship (2015). You can follow her on Twitter @SocialLore
Introduction: University Lives in the crisis;
Part 1 University for all? How higher education shapes inequality among young people;
The social consequences of the mass access in Europe;
How welfare influences the lives of youth in university;
Beyond differences? Determinants of inequality among European youth in university;
Part 2 Exploring the inequality of university lives in England, Italy and Sweden;
The five profiles of the university experience;
Explaining inequality: the role of social origins and welfare sources;
Welfare mixes and the reproduction of inequality in university;
Part 3 The ‘eternal transition’: young adults and semi-dependence in university;
The family: saviour or ‘inequaliser’?;
The labour-market contradiction: a precarious form of dependence;
State: generous, conditional or absent?;
Conclusion. Addressing the growing inequality among young people in university;
Methodological Annex.
