University of Bradford tops Social Mobility Index for fourth year in a row
The University of Bradford has topped the English Social Mobility Index for the fourth year in a row, meaning it does more than any other higher education institution to improve its students’ life chances.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Shirley Congdon said she was delighted by the results of the Higher Education Policy Institute league table, which uses a series of metrics designed to measure the ‘social distance travelled’ of students.
The SMI was first published in 2021. Bradford has been ranked 1st in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Professor Congdon said: "We have for many years put great emphasis on making the University of Bradford the place to be to make a difference. This is a core part of who we are and informs everything we do.
"As we stated in our silver-award submission as part of the Teaching Excellence Framework in 2023, we are proud to be the university of and for Bradford. We are committed to transforming the lives of our students by removing barriers and reducing attainment gaps. This in turn elevates their families and whole communities, enabling regional business to thrive, and boosting the economy.
"The latest Social Mobility Index is evidence that our vision and mission are working.
"We will continue to strive for equality of access, opportunity and outcomes through targeted interventions such as those outlined in our Access and Participation Plan to ensure our students prosper from increased opportunities."
The University has consistently achieved recognition for its work on social mobility.
In October, it was named University of the Year at the Social Mobility Awards.
On November 28, a team from the University won a Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Contribution to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
In 2019, the University was also named University of the Year for Social Inclusion by The Times/Sunday Times.
In October 2023, the University was awarded Silver Status for its teaching by the Office for Students.
Making a difference
Some of the factors that led to its top ranking include:
-
65% of its students are from the most socio-economically deprived backgrounds
-
79% are from the region
-
92% are in employment or further study 15 months after graduating
Median salaries as measured in the Graduate Outcomes survey, adjusted to account for the purchasing power parity of the destination region of each provider’s graduates.
More about the SMI
The English Higher Education Social Mobility Index (SMI) ranks English universities registered with the Office for Students (excluding specialist institutions) by their contribution to social mobility, based on the social distance travelled by their graduates.
Improvements have been made to the methodology of the Index each year since its inception. In the 2024 iteration, graduate salaries have been weighted by region to account for salary differences across the country. It combines a number of measures linked to social mobility, including:-
- Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) to determine where students begin their journey
- Office for Students’ Continuation indicator, which records the percentage of first-year students who complete their course or remain in UK higher education for 12 months (full-time students) or 24 months (part-time students) after starting their course
- Graduate Outcomes based on Office for Students’ ‘Proceed’ definition, which counts highly skilled employment, any further study and other activities (except ‘Doing something else’) as positive outcomes; and medium / low skilled employment and unemployment as negative outcomes.
- Median salaries as measured in the Graduate Outcomes survey, adjusted to account for the purchasing power parity of the destination region of each provider’s graduates.