Elite University Brands' Role in Maintaining Inequitable Educational Outcomes

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Global Conceptions of the Quality and Value of College (Table 14)

Abstract

Whilst university brands are readily recognisable, their role within higher education is often difficult to quantify. This paper reports research exploring university brands from the perspective of 45 graduate students attending elite universities in the United States and United Kingdom. It argues that prior socio-economic status and ethnicity often determine how much value students derive from the university brand. Using a Bourdieusian theoretical lens to analyse the competition for economic, social and cultural capitals within educational fields, the research explores how students navigate their immersion and positioning within the brand. It identifies local and highly exclusive practices which reinforce wider social inequalities. These materialise initially within institutional settings and later in students’ competition for power and status within global economies.

Authors

• Martin Myers, University of Nottingham

• Kalwant Bhopal, University of Birmingham