Inequality of Opportunity in Tertiary Education: Evidence from Europe

Abstract

This study provides comparable lower-bound estimates of inequality of opportunity for tertiary education (EIOp) for 31 countries in Europe, by using the two EU-SILC waves for which information on family background is available (2005 and 2011). The results reveal an important degree of heterogeneity, with Northern European countries showing low levels of inequality of opportunity and Mediterranean and Eastern European countries characterized by significant degrees of unfair educational inequalities. Parental education and occupation are the most relevant circumstances in the great majority of the countries considered. This study also exploits the two point-in-time observations available and analyses the relationship between some country-specific characteristics and inequality of opportunity in tertiary education. The analysis documents a negative association between EIOp and real GDP per capita, possibly indicating that higher equality of opportunity in tertiary education and economic growth are complementary objectives. Two results emerge as especially robust: in all the specifications we find a positive association between EIOp and the students/teacher ratio, and a negative one between EIOp and public spending in tertiary education. While we do not claim that such correlations should be interpreted causally, we think that they might indicate a meaningful underlying relationship between equality of opportunity in tertiary education and the availability of financial and non-financial resources.

A Story of Strengths and Weaknesses in Tertiary Education: Evaluating ‘Mobility’ and ‘Opportunities’ in OECD Countries with Composite Indicators

“…Being grounded on the international debate on the importance of (public) investment in national education systems [30,63,66], a comparative analysis of the relationship between the composite indicator of long-term sustainability in tertiary education systems and the expenditure in tertiary education (as per cent share of GDP) demonstrates how European and non-European countries display different patterns [68], with a significant correlation between the two variables found for European countries only [62,[69][70][71]. The inherent reduction of these expenditure gaps may represent an effective contribution to reach more inclusive and equal tertiary education systems, contributing substantially to a more sustainable development path of countries as far as the education dimension is concerned.…”

Do ICTs reduce inequalities in access to professional training in Cameroon?

“…The variables used are taken from the literature. In particular, they express individual, geographical and social-economic characteristics (Palmisano et al ., 2021; Asongu and Odhiambo, 2019; Brotcorne, 2016; Cissé et al ., 2004). The list of these variables is summarised in Table 2 below.…”

RETRACTION NOTICE TO “Analysis of the Bachelor of Physical Education (BPEd) Program Prospectus through Course Content Assessment”

“…One of the problems of tertiary schools is unequal opportunity, and this has been stressed out from previously conducted studies (Erikson, 2020;Gegel et al, 2015;Palmisano et al, 2022). Disadvantaged students (economic background, racial prejudice, geographic location, physical disability) are often inadequately prepared for postsecondary study.…”