The Trilemma of Higher Education and Equality of Opportunity: Social Background, Access to Higher Education and the Moderating Impact of Enrolment and Public Subsidization

The 1999 strike at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) mobilized students around the demand for free public higher education to promote equality of opportunity. In the wake of that movement, it is necessary to evaluate the effects of user fees and of free tuition in promoting equality of opportunity. For this purpose, I used the Encuesta Nacional de Ingreso-Gasto to gauge the impact of family background and household income on the chances for attending higher education since 1984. Despite the low user fees charged in Mexico's public universities during the period, the data show that selectivity by family income worsened. Private universities, always selective, remained so. More worrisome is the fact that, by the mid 1990s, young people living in the poorest income quartile of households were less than ten times as likely to attend public higher education, as compared with children from the richest quartile of households. Free tuition in itself is unlikely to promote equality of access, because the beneficiaries of free tuition--increasingly--came from upper income families. / La huelga de 1999 en la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) mobilizó a los estudiantes en torno a la exigencia de una educación pública gratuita que promoviera una igualdad en la oportunidad a acceder a instituciones de educación superior. En el despertar de ese movimiento, es necesario evaluar los efectos de los pagos del usuario y de la enseñanza gratuita en la promoción de dicha igualdad de oportunidad. Por ende, utilicé la Encuesta Nacional de Ingreso-Gasto para calcular el impacto que han tenido el trasfondo social familiar y los ingresos de la familia en cuanto al acceso a la educación avanzada desde 1984. A pesar que durante el período ya mencionado las universidades públicas de México cobran muy poco al estudiante, las estadisticas ejemplifican que las universidades públicas no aceptan a los estudiantes a base de los ingresos familiares del estudiante. Las universidades privadas, que siempre han sido selectivas, continúan siéndolo. Lo que preocupa más es que, para mediados de la década de los noventa, la juventud que vive en los sectores más pobres ha perdido la oportunidad diez veces más de asistir a universidades públicas que los jóvenes que viven en sectores más adinerados de la ciudad. No es probable que la enseñanza gratuita en sí promueva la igualdad de acceso a universidades públicas, ya que los beneficiarios de la enseñanza gratuita--cada vez más--provienen de familias con altos ingresos.

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Slipping Past the Test: Heterogeneous Effects of Social Background in the Context of Inconsistent Selection Mechanisms in Higher Education

Sociology of Education ◽

10.1177/0038040718779087 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 91 (3) ◽

pp. 224-241 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Gordey Yastrebov ◽

Yuliya Kosyakova ◽

Dmitry Kurakin

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Social Inequality ◽

High Stakes Testing ◽

Social Background ◽

Supporting Evidence ◽

Access To Higher Education ◽

Alternative Pathways ◽

Academic Track ◽

Heterogeneous Effects ◽

Selection Mechanisms

In this article, we analyze how the existence of alternative pathways to higher education, which implies different selection mechanisms, shapes social inequality in educational attainment. We focus on the Russian educational system, in which higher education can be accessed from academic and vocational tracks, but the rules of admission to higher education from these tracks are different. Access through the academic track is highly selective due to obligatory high-stakes testing, which determines secondary-school graduates’ eligibility to pursue higher education. The vocational track is generally less selective with regard to student intake and provides less restrictive access to higher education. We argue that this system has nuanced implications for social inequality. On one hand, transitions from vocational education to higher education can promote greater social mobility by offering an affordable and low-risk gateway to higher education for children from less-advantaged families. On the other hand, more-advantaged families might use the vocational track to higher education if their children face a high risk of failure in the more selective academic track. We test this conjecture and provide supporting evidence using data from the longitudinal survey Trajectories in Education and Careers.

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Stalinizm i rewolucja na uczelniach – odgórna demokratyzacja dostępu do edukacji wyższej 1947-1956 [Stalinism and Revolution in Universities: Democratization of Higher Education from Above, 1947–1956]

Studia Litteraria et Historica ◽

10.11649/slh.2044 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Agata Zysiak

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

School System ◽

Social Background ◽

The Other ◽

University Education ◽

Access To Higher Education ◽

General Picture ◽

The One ◽

Admissions Process ◽

Postwar Decade

Stalinism and Revolution in Universities: Democratization of Higher Education from Above, 1947–1956The first postwar decade in Poland saw a rebuilding of the whole country, including the school system and higher education. Higher education institutions were to mold a new intelligentsia, coming from a wider social background. Initial grassroots efforts to change the elite character of universities were eclipsed from 1947 by a reform introduced from above. On the one hand, the reform curtailed the autonomy of universities and increased censorship and political control; on the other hand, however, its aim was to make university education available on an unprecedented scale to people from the working and peasant classes. This article offers a survey of tools through which this “democratization” of access to higher education was implemented, such as a new admissions process, the induction year and preparatory courses. It also shows how these tools changed the students’ social backgrounds, albeit without permanently altering the general picture of higher education in Poland. Stalinizm i rewolucja na uczelniach – odgórna demokratyzacja dostępu do edukacji wyższej 1947–1956Pierwsza powojenna dekada to czas odbudowy całego kraju, w tym systemu edukacji, i reformy szkolnictwa wyższego. Uczelnie miały stać się miejscami budowy nowej inteligencji o egalitarnym pochodzeniu. Początkowo oddolne starania, by zmienić elitarny charakter uniwersytetów, od 1947 roku zostały zdominowane przez odgórną reformę edukacji. Z jednej strony oznaczała ona ograniczenie autonomii uczelni, zwiększenie cenzury i politycznej kontroli, z drugiej jednak miała na celu umożliwienie studiowania osobom z klasy robotniczej i chłopskiej na niespotykaną wcześniej skalę. Artykuł stanowi przegląd narzędzi „demokratyzacji” dostępu do szkolnictwa wyższego, takich jak nowy proces rekrutacji, rok wstępny i kursy przygotowawcze. Pokazuje także, jak zmieniły one społeczne pochodzenie studentów, a jednak nie zmieniły trwale oblicza szkolnictwa wyższego.

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Accounting for unequal access to higher education: The role of social identity factors

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations ◽

10.1177/1368430219829824 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 371-389 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Marlon Nieuwenhuis ◽

Antony S. R. Manstead ◽

Matthew J. Easterbrook

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Social Identity ◽

Social Background ◽

Disadvantaged Students ◽

Access To Higher Education ◽

Selective Universities ◽

Relevant Role ◽

Group Members ◽

Fitting In

Western societies stress the potential for anyone, irrespective of social background, to improve their position within society. However, disadvantaged students face barriers in gaining a good education. Two studies in secondary schools show how perceptions of identity compatibility and anticipated fit influence students’ university choices. It was found that relatively disadvantaged students scored lower on identity compatibility, and that low scores on identity compatibility were associated with lower anticipated fit at a local selective (Study 1) or highly selective (Study 2) university. Anticipated fit, in turn, predicted the type of university to which participants wanted to apply; those who anticipated fitting in more at selective universities were more likely to apply to higher status universities. These relations were significant while controlling for academic achievement. Together, these studies suggest that social identity factors play a relevant role in explaining higher education choices among low-status group members.

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Russian Freshmen Future Profession Choice in the Conditions of Digitalization: New Challenges of Labour Markets

KnE Social Sciences ◽

10.18502/kss.v5i2.8432 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Elena Grunt ◽

Sabina Lissitsa ◽

Ekaterina Lebedkina

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Labor Market ◽

Young People ◽

Social Background ◽

Primary Data ◽

Professional Activity ◽

Access To Higher Education ◽

Qualitative Approaches ◽

New Challenges ◽

The Prestige

The prestige and values of higher education are traditionally high in Russia and overseas countries. For several generations, there has been a youth orientation towards higher education. Higher education and diplomas are perceived by a person primarily as a means of social mobility. Profession sets a certain “social background” for people’s life. At the same time, however, over the past few decades the assessment of the prestige associated with certain professions and specialties has dramatically changed and the labor market has changed, too. The the desire for higher education among young people continues to grow in Russia. Today’s students, future specialists, face new challenges of the labor market: firstly, availability of desired and demanded professions acquisition on the labor market; secondly, disappearance of old and the emergence of new professions; thirdly, digitalization of the labor market; fourthly, the formation of specialist competencies that are in demand both on the local and global labor markets. The major research objectives were to study the issues of students’ profession choice and their opinion on the demanded / non-demanded professions on modern labor market. The research methodology combines both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The primary data was collected using questionnaires and indepth-interviews. 250 freshmen of the Ural Federal University and 250 freshmen of Saint-Petersburg State University were questioned on the basis of quota sampling. In depth-interviews (15) were organized for the educators engaged in the system of higher education. The study has revealed the issue of inequality in access to higher education as well as of inequality in access to getting prestigious and demanded professions on labor market.The majority of the respondents look for occupation suited to abilities and to their own interests. For young people the main thing is that the profession should not only make profit, but also a career progress and give new professional knowledge. The research has fixed that the majority of the students believe that they have made the right choice of specialty and they are well aware of how their future professional activity will be. About 30.0% of young people do not often choose those professions that they would like to be trained at the university, but those that are possible due to their “accessibility”. The students’ professional choice does not correspond to their ideas about their future profession and their psychological characteristics. Keywords: Higher education, students, freshmen, Russia, labor market, future profession choice, digitalization

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Reliability of Longitudinal Social Surveys of Access to Higher Education: The Case of Next Steps in England

Social Inclusion ◽

10.17645/si.v7i1.1631 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 80-89 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nadia Siddiqui ◽

Vikki Boliver ◽

Stephen Gorard

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Missing Data ◽

Administrative Data ◽

Parental Education ◽

Explanatory Power ◽

Social Background ◽

Socioeconomic Background ◽

Access To Higher Education ◽

Social Surveys ◽

Sample Attrition

Longitudinal social surveys are widely used to understand which factors enable or constrain access to higher education. One such data resource is the Next Steps survey comprising an initial sample of 16,122 pupils aged 13–14 attending English state and private schools in 2004, with follow up annually to age 19–20 and a further survey at age 25. The Next Steps data is a potentially rich resource for studying inequalities of access to higher education. It contains a wealth of information about pupils’ social background characteristics—including household income, parental education, parental social class, housing tenure and family composition—as well as longitudinal data on aspirations, choices and outcomes in relation to education. However, as with many longitudinal social surveys, Next Steps suffers from a substantial amount of missing data due to item non-response and sample attrition which may seriously compromise the reliability of research findings. Helpfully, Next Steps data has been linked with more robust administrative data from the National Pupil Database (NPD), which contains a more limited range of social background variables, but has comparatively little in the way of missing data due to item non-response or attrition. We analyse these linked datasets to assess the implications of missing data for the reliability of Next Steps. We show that item non-response in Next Steps biases the apparent socioeconomic composition of the Next Steps sample upwards, and that this bias is exacerbated by sample attrition since Next Steps participants from less advantaged social backgrounds are more likely to drop out of the study. Moreover, by the time it is possible to measure access to higher education, the socioeconomic background variables in Next Steps are shown to have very little explanatory power after controlling for the social background and educational attainment variables contained in the NPD. Given these findings, we argue that longitudinal social surveys with much missing data are only reliable sources of data on access to higher education if they can be linked effectively with more robust administrative data sources. This then raises the question—why not just use the more robust datasets?

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Troublesome Access: Non-Admission Experiences in the Competitive Finnish Higher Education

Social Sciences ◽

10.3390/socsci8110302 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (11) ◽

pp. 302 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ulpukka Isopahkala-Bouret

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Equality Of Opportunity ◽

The State ◽

Access To Higher Education ◽

Prospective Students ◽

Tuition Fees ◽

Competitive Systems ◽

Marketization Of Higher Education ◽

Market Driven ◽

Finnish Higher Education

In this study, I address policy aims to reconcile equality of opportunity and marketization by examining difficulties in access to Finnish higher education. Finnish higher education is largely funded by the state and has no tuition fees. However, new demands have arisen that align with market-driven policy. At the same time, the Finnish system is one of the most competitive systems in the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD), and around 70% of applicants do not gain admittance. The purpose of this study is to examine how prospective degree students who have applied without being allowed to start studying toward a degree respond to the loss of opportunity and position themselves in the higher education marketplace. The analysis is based on 50 online narratives. The results are elaborated into three exploratory story models: (1) ‘Never give up on your dreams’; (2) ‘Need to figure out a new plan’; and (3) ‘You can’t get everything you want in life’. The stories show that marketization of higher education affects the experiences and expectations of prospective students. Moreover, marketization offers opportunities differently for those who already have plenty of resources to compete for access to higher education and those who do not.

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