The role of ethnic minority peers in fostering university aspirations among White pupils

Some theories suggest that encountering ethnic diversity broadens knowledge and perspectives, equipping individuals with cultural capital. This research examines whether high aspiring ethnic minority pupils influence the university aspirations of White pupils they interact with in the same school. We link White pupils’ reported university likelihood to administrative data on all pupils in England. As an instrument for exposure to ethnic minorities in 2014, we use the proportion of employed individuals in a local area that are nurses in 1951—an indicator of post-World War II job shortages filled by immigrant workers. The findings show that increasing ethnic minorities in schools positively impacts White pupils’ university aspirations. We provide some evidence of heterogeneous impacts across individual and family characteristics, suggesting that improving school diversity could aid in improving higher education participation for under-represented groups.