Study title

This qualitative data-set is of young people's spatial imaginaries within the UK context. It contains interviews carried out with young people aged 16/17 years across different geographic contexts. In particular, interviews focussed around the importance and significance of place, including: i) the role place has on the choices of young people who are socially and educationally similar but located in geographically diverse areas; ii) ways in which economically, socially, culturally or politically distinct places act as pull or push factors for different social groups; iii) what social, cultural, or economic importance particular localities hold for different groups.The creation of a fairer society through social mobility is high on the political agenda in the UK. It is often assumed that widening participation in higher education (HE), through various policies and initiatives, will equate to a fairer and more socially mobile society. Yet, while more disadvantaged groups are now progressing to HE, social mobility remains weak, suggesting that this is an over-simplified picture of the ways in which social inequalities are (re)produced in countries like the UK. The geographical (im)mobility of young people at this key transition point is rarely alluded to here, in terms of its significance in shaping social (im)mobility. In spatially diverse countries like the UK, access to universities, key labour markets, social networks, and other valuable resources often necessitate some degree of geographical mobility. In addressing social inequalities in wider society, it is therefore crucial to understand the nature of student flows across diverse parts of the UK, including the rationales different young people have for their (im)mobility to and from different places. There is already some evidence to suggest that the costs of HE study can deter the most disadvantaged young people from moving away for their studies, but what other place-based factors, including the cultural,...