This research used data from the National Child Development Study (NCDS) to assess the effects of higher education on a number of non-economic adult outcomes, with controls in place to take into account earlier family circumstances and earlier educational attainment. Outcomes were mainly assessed at age 33. Control variables spanned the period from 33 back to birth.

Exploring outcomes such as employment, skills improvement, health and vulnerability, parenting, civic engagement, and attitudes, the research provides convincing evidence of the benefits of higher education; however, more analysis is needed to estimate more precisely the extent and the form of the contribution, over other kinds of experience, that higher education makes.