ESRI Research Seminar: "Distance Effects, Social Class and the Decision to Participate in Higher Education in Ireland"

Venue: ESRI, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2

Speaker: John Cullinan (NUI Galway).

Abstract:
While a number of international studies have attempted to assess the influence of geographic accessibility on the decision to participate in higher education, this issue has not been addressed in detail in an Irish context. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap and to present a higher education choice model that estimates the impact of travel distance on the decision of school leavers to proceed to higher education in Ireland, while also controlling for a range of individual level characteristics and school related variables. The results suggest that on average travel distance is not an important factor in the higher education participation decision, when factors such as teacher quality and student ability are accounted for. However, further analysis shows that travel distance has a significantly negative impact on participation for those from lower socioeconomic groups and that this impact grows stronger as distance increases. We also find that these distance effects are most pronounced for lower ability students from these social backgrounds. This has important implications for higher education policy in Ireland, especially in relation to equity of access and the design of the maintenance grant system.

Authors:John Cullinan (NUI Galway), Darragh Flannery (UL), Sharon Walsh (ESRI) and Selina McCoy (ESRI).