First-generation Phd

The participation of children from non-academic backgrounds in education has improved on every level over the past years. This is the result of a study called ‘Vom Arbeiterkind zum Doktor. Der Hürdenlauf auf dem Bildungsweg der Erststudierenden’External link and published in 2021 by Stiftungsverband für die Wissenschaften e.V. and Mc Kinsey & Company. As promising as it may sound, this positive development doesn’t change the fact that social background continues to be a decisive factor in determining academic success.

The biggest hurdle continues to be the transition from secondary school to higher education. Once students have made it into higher education, success rates of children from non-academic and academic backgrounds tend to become much more equal. Two per cent of children from non-academic families complete their doctorate. For children from academic backgrounds, this figure is six per cent. In transitioning to a PhD, children from non-academic backgrounds are even ahead of their privileged peers (17 per cent, compared to 13 per cent for children from academic backgrounds).