Read: Guest blog from Professor Mark E. Smith - Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton

A recent report by the Sutton Trust to mark its 25th anniversary shows that there are still large gaps in social mobility. Indeed, the former trend for upward mobility has been replaced with declining opportunities. Higher education continues to have an increasingly important contribution to countering these stark findings.

We should find this shocking, and we should channel this alarm into action. We need continuing action for individuals that find it harder to access opportunities for themselves and their communities, and also for the health of our society. As a country, we need to be able to look in the mirror and know that we provide the very best chances for all of our citizens to reach their potential and achieve their ambitions. We want people to expect – not simply aspire – for it to be possible that they can achieve a place at university, or in the professions, based on merit, regardless of background. Cynicism and mistrust understandably fill the void that expectation leaves. This undermines the health of society itself. By not tackling stagnant social mobility we are overlooking a vast talent pool simply because of where they live or what their background is.      

At Southampton we believe that organisational strength comes through diversity. We have a deeply held belief in equality of opportunity, so much so that egalitarianism is one of our core values as an organisation. We are proud to have this principle run through the way we interact with ourselves and the world outside. We recognise that for us to get ahead of current and upcoming challenges we need diverse views, perspectives, experiences and opinions – without which we risk groupthink. 

Recently we have had reason to assess our current contribution and future plans for social mobility through a number of different channels. The first is our response to the most recent guidance from the Office for Students on supporting students from underrepresented groups to access, succeed at and progress from higher education – otherwise known as widening participation. Over the last two years we have built up our capacity and strategic intentions, now having a strong offer which supports attainment raising both in schools and at the University, encourages students to get on as well as get in and is backed up by robust evaluation. This academic year our pre-entry academic skills team alone have, at the time of writing, worked with nearly 5,000 students in over 130 schools and colleges.

The second is the setting up of the Social Mobility Network – a combination of staff and students from working class and lower socio-economic backgrounds. The Social Mobility Network was the brainchild of Savanna Cutts, a sabbatical officer in Southampton Students’ Union, to highlight some of the issues faced by those within the higher education community who do not come from the middle and upper classes. We have gained some valuable insight into the collective experience of members of our community who are from working class backgrounds which has led to a number of outputs – most notably a space for staff and students to share their experiences and a podcast, the first episode of which was published on 16th June: Social Mobility Awareness Day.

Finally, we are very pleased to work with the Purpose Coalition on the publication of our Levelling Up Impact report. Collating the breadth of activity across the institution was an extensive exercise, which demonstrated how many connections different parts of the organisation have with the area. The University sees itself very much as an active part of a local ecosystem of businesses, communities, education providers and third sector organisations who work together for the good of the City of Southampton and our wider region. We are delighted, therefore, that the report recognises that we show an exceptional commitment to addressing ESG issues against all 14 of the Levelling Up Goals, with significant strengths in four key areas: successful school years, right advice and experiences, closing the digital divide and achieving equality through diversity and inclusion. 

We know though, that social mobility and levelling up will continue to be a significant issue not just for our region, but for the whole country. We need to keep innovating and responding to the challenges that we are presented with. This is one of the reasons we have been discussing using the Social Mobility Index to understand the social background of our staff and work toward a more socially diverse workforce. We also know, as our Impact report shows, that there are lots of opportunities for our interactions to build on previous efforts of the University. 

We are developing a new flagship widening participation programme called Ignite Southampton because we believe in the cumulative value of working with young people and our community. Working with our generous community of alumni and supporters, we will be bringing together new and existing projects under one umbrella scheme which will have the potential to support students from their GCSEs right the way through to postgraduate study. We know from studies by the Sutton Trust and others that students from lower socio-economic groups often lack the networks and social capital of their more advantaged peers, and Ignite Southampton will fill some of that gap through internships, mentoring, peer support and so on.  

We know this isn’t a problem that any one of us can fix alone. Many universities and organisations are doing some excellent work in this area. The scale of the challenge means we need to maximise the potential of all the impactful social mobility projects happening around the country by finding common purpose and working in lockstep. Through organisations like This is Purpose we can articulate and harness the cumulative value of our work, using those outputs to drive momentum and pull in more universities, businesses and charities. Through our individual efforts, expertise and will and the collective endeavour of our partnership we can turn around the declining opportunities. We can alter the life courses of so many individuals, we can ensure the health of our own organisations and we can cultivate a country where everyone has as much as possible to play for.