How immigrant parents' perceptions can impact their child's choice to pursue university

In the next 5 years, over 90% of jobs will require a higher education qualification. And despite evidence suggesting higher income earning potential for degree holders, the number of Australians enrolled in undergraduate degrees has fallen in recent years.  

To address this concern, the Australian Universities Accord Final Report has recommended increasing the number of underrepresented groups accessing and successfully completing tertiary studies.  

An excellent suggestion in theory – but the reality isn’t as straightforward. Everyone should have equal access to higher education, regardless of their background or circumstances, but unfortunately, this isn’t the case for many in Australia.  

To get to the point of total inclusion of all cohorts, we must first understand the factors that prevents specific groups from accessing university in Australia.  

Financial disadvantage, disability and refugee status are well known and researched barriers to accessing higher education, but Rayan Merkbawi, Lecturer in Management at the UTS Business School, believed there was one area being overlooked – how the perceptions of immigrant parents might influence their child’s post-school study choices.  

‘There are so many things that a student needs to think about before deciding what they want to do after school,’ Rayan says.  

‘They need to consider what career they are interested in pursuing, whether they can afford to meet the costs associated with studying, whether they can balance attending classes with a part time job, and more.  

‘But for students from immigrant backgrounds, one thing that sets them apart is the unique challenges their parents face in this country. I don’t think people realise how big of an impact this can have on a child’s choice to pursue university, and it was something my team and I were determined to unpack,’ she said.  

Supported by a Social Impact Grant from the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion, which the UTS Business School matched, Rayan and her team set out to investigate the challenges faced by immigrant parents in Western Sydney and how these challenges impact their children’s decisions to enroll in university.  

They did this by:  

‘There weren’t many surprises for us coming out of the literature review. Existing studies identified the key challenges as socioeconomic status, linguistic and cultural barriers, parent involvement and institutional support, which we already knew.  

‘But still we felt there were very limited studies focusing on the impact of immigrant parents’ perceptions on their child’s choice to pursue higher education, especially in the context of Australia. This served as a foundation for the design of our interview questions,’ Rayan said.  

Once the literature review was complete, the team organised in-depth interviews with 23 parents and 16 school staff members from a high school in Western Sydney. It provided the parents and staff the opportunity to express their perspective; while also allowing the project team to better understand any misconceptions or misunderstandings they may have about university in Australia. The common themes that arose from the interviews included:  

‘While several themes from the interviews were consistent with prior research, there were several factors that came out of it that are purely unique to immigrant families. Language barriers, the perceived value of education, and a lack of support networks are all highly influential when it comes to their understanding of the Australian university sector, and subsequently, their ability to support their child’s educational aspirations.  

‘As a country we need to better consider these hurdles for immigrant families when we talk about education, and the pathways to accessing it. It can’t just be a one-size-fits-all approach if we want truly equitable and accessible universities. 

‘However, there are still gaps that warrant further exploration. While we have a foundational understanding of these challenges, we need to delve deeper into the nuanced experiences of different immigrant communities. This includes understanding the varying degrees of impact based on factors such as country of origin, length of time in the host country, and levels of parental education.  

‘By conducting a longitudinal study, we can better understand how targeted initiatives can improve education outcomes for children of immigrant parents. This extended research could provide valuable insights for policymakers, emphasising the need for intervention programs that support both parents and students,’ Rayan said. 

Rayan and her team will be hosting an event to showcase the research report to the project’s key stakeholders including the partner school. The team are currently investigating ways to extend their research further by collaborating with UTS widening participation initiatives.

This project was awarded a 2023 UTS Social Impact Grant.