Achala Gupta

Dr. Achala Gupta is a Lecturer at the Southampton Education School, University of Southampton. She is a sociologist of education with expertise in shadow education, educational inequality, and comparative research. Her work examines middle-class educational strategies and policy impacts in Asia, as well as European higher education student constructions. She co-directs the Centre for Research in Inclusion and leads the MSc module 'Education and Society'.

Her research explores formal and supplementary education systems in Asia, including private tutoring's role in social mobility. She has analyzed China's 2021 educational reforms and European students' perceptions of higher education. Gupta has authored/co-authored over 30 articles and books, including Constructing the Higher Education Student: Perspectives from across Europe.

Gupta supervises PhD students and advises on academic integrity. She reviews for journals like British Journal of Sociology of Education and sits on the editorial board of Sociology. Her awards include a 2024 Best Book Award for her comparative work on European students.

Her teaching spans undergraduate and postgraduate courses on education sociology, internationalization, and policy. She mentors early-career teachers and researches AI's dual impact on higher education.