Who are gaining the highly paid elite placements in UK higher education?

Abstract

This study analyses longitudinal student data to determine the influence of social class, academic performance and other individual factors such as gender, ethnicity and age on entry on the possibility of obtaining highly paid placements in elite professions. Focusing on subject-relevant placements, the findings here strongly support the meritocratic recruitment and rewarding process for such work experience schemes. Prestigious and highly paid placements in elite professional firms are not filled by socially privileged upper middle class students but the academically "brightest" students from a wide range of social and individual backgrounds. Excellent academic performance has been interpreted by elite firms as equivalent to high levels of employability skills and productivity. Finally, there is evidence to suggest that well-paid placements can facilitate socioeconomic mobility of working class

Social mobility via elite placements: working class graduates in elite accounting and banking firms

“…There is a dearth of academic research regarding the recruitment rules of elite firms in the yearlong placement field. One exceptional paper investigating the types of accounting and finance students who can obtain highly paid placements in elite accounting and financial services firms finds that elite placements are awarded to academically brilliant students regardless of their social class, gender, age and ethnicity (Wang & Crawford, 2018).…”

“…Accounting and finance students, regardless of their social backgrounds, frequently obtain relevant and highly paid placements in elite accounting firms and investment banks (Crawford & Wang, 2019;Wang & Crawford, 2018).…”

“…There are a number of work experience schemes which are embedded in degree study and varied by length and pay (Little & Harvey, 2006;Reddy & Moores, 2006;Wang & Crawford, 2018). It is well established that plenty of work experience schemes in elite professions disadvantage working class students as they have neither social connections to access these positions which are often not advertised and given to the children of the existing elite, nor financial resources to take unpaid internships (Allen, Quinn, Hollingworth, & Rose, 2013;Crawford & Wang, 2019;Duff, 2017;Tholen, Brown, Power, & Allouch, 2013;Wang & Crawford, 2018). By contrast, highly paid yearlong placements in elite accounting and financial services firms are available to a wider audience and offered to academically brilliant students regardless of their social class (Wang & Crawford, 2018).…”

“…This research focuses on the type of work experience, an optional yearlong work placement, which is officially strucutured in accounting and finance degrees in the UK and means that students can graduate with a full-time degree if they opt out of placements or a sandwich degree if they take part in a yearlong placement (Crawford & Wang, 2015Paisey & Paisey, 2010). We recognise the variation of work experienc schemes integrated in UK higher education (for detailed, see Wang & Crawford 2018) and offered by elite employers (Duff, 2017;HFR, 2019;Tholen et al, 2013). Compared with alternative work experience schemes in top investment banks and the big 4 accounting firms, which are largely allocated through an "old boys' network"the existing elite (Duff, 2017; Tholen et al, 2013), elite yearlong placements are openly available to working class accounting and finance students with excellent academic results (Crawford & Wang, 2019;Wang & Crawford, 2018).…”

“…We recognise the variation of work experienc schemes integrated in UK higher education (for detailed, see Wang & Crawford 2018) and offered by elite employers (Duff, 2017;HFR, 2019;Tholen et al, 2013). Compared with alternative work experience schemes in top investment banks and the big 4 accounting firms, which are largely allocated through an "old boys' network"the existing elite (Duff, 2017; Tholen et al, 2013), elite yearlong placements are openly available to working class accounting and finance students with excellent academic results (Crawford & Wang, 2019;Wang & Crawford, 2018).…”