The Role of Higher Education in Promoting Socio-Economic Mobility: A Bibliographic Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57125/FED.2025.03.25.07Keywords:
inequality to education access, influence of education policy, career development, dimensions of social stratification, effects of human capital, social mobilityAbstract
The purpose of the article is to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric review of the existing scientific literature on the role of higher education in fostering socio-economic mobility. The study seeks to outline the key themes, trends, and findings in the field. The research is to achieve the following objectives: to present the key trends regarding the relationship between higher education and socio-economic mobility; to describe the factors that influence the effectiveness of higher education in promoting upward mobility; to analyze the impact of higher education on social stratification; and to investigate the effects of human capital on socio-economic mobility of individuals with higher education. to achieve the objectives, 467 articles indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science during the recent five years were extracted. The investigation was conducted according to the PRISMA 2020 statement. In the bibliometric review the following methods were applied: citation analysis, keywords analysis, trend analysis and mapping analysis. The results showed that the role of higher education in fostering socio-economic mobility has become a widely studied topic in contemporary research. Also, it was revealed that most articles examining the relationship between higher education and socio-economic mobility are authored by European scholars. During the investigation, the key trends regarding the relationship between higher education and socio-economic mobility were identified. Besides, the factors influencing the effectiveness of higher education in promoting mobility were described. They refer to digital divide, urban-rural divide, family background, gender disparities, social perceptions of education, economic inequalities, labor market demands, affordability of education, secondary education preparedness, and quality of higher education institutions. Special attention was paid to the analysis of human capital and its impact upon socio-economic mobility. The findings can be used by policymakers and educational practitioners for the development of targeted policies to increase accessibility and inclusivity in higher education.
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