EqualSoc

Differentiation in Higher Education and its Consequences for Social Inequality

In the last decades the higher education sector has changed dramatically in most European
countries both with regard to participation as well as institutional differentiation.
Differentiation in higher education can be found at the different levels, i.e. at institutions,
degree.levels, educational careers of individuals and labour market returns. The main aim of
the project is to examine how differentiation in different countries can be sociologically and
analytically characterised, and how it affects social inequalities in participation in higher
education as well as its effects on social stratification. Although there is some literature
dealing with stratification and differentiation in higher education and its changes over
(historical) time, only a few studies deal with the dynamics of differentiation from an
institutional perspective or with the consequences of differentiation for educational careers.
A coherent analysis would have to take into account that educational choices in higher
education often involve several options regarding institutions, fields and degrees. The
availability of these options might affect social inequalities in access to higher education and
the subsequent educational career as well as final labour market outcomes. The Research
Team will contribute to the understanding of differentiation in higher education by
examining different dimensions and processes involved: on the macro-level we will explore
different aspects of institutional differentiation in a comparative perspective, on the microlevel
we are interested in specific social patterns of entry into different institutions and fields,
development during one’s studies, e.g. drop-out and re-entry, and labour market success of
graduates with different tertiary qualifications.