This article shows how the probability of enrolment in tertiary schools has evolved for different social groups in Poland during the period of the educational boom. It also analyses how the socio‐economic status influences the choices between full‐time and part‐time studies (the latter being of relatively low quality), and the probability of admission to subsidised, free programmes versus programmes with tuition fees. Between 1994 and 2008, Poland improved the participation of students with a low socio‐economic status in university education. However, if we look at the change in the ratios of enrolment probabilities for different layers of the social strata, we find that the improvement refers to those with a low family educational background who live in small cities, but not to those from low income families. Further investigation shows that the policy makers should focus not only on ensuring equal access to tertiary education for all social strata, but on allowing the unprivileged groups access to education of acceptable quality.
Divergent histories and changing country boundaries can lead to substantial within country variation in economic and social structures and inequality in economic and social outcomes. Given its changing borders and turbulent history, Poland provides a fertile setting for an examination of the effects of social and economic structures. In this paper we investigate regional variation in academic achievement in Poland in order to gain a better understanding of the effects of local social and economic structures on educational outcomes. The results suggest that economic dislocation following the transformation and the absence of long-lasting social institutions as a result of population relocation have had longer term adverse effects on academic achievement.
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