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Late Entry in Swedish Tertiary Education: Can the Opportunity of Lifelong Learning Promote Equality Over the Life Course?
Author(s) -
Hällsten Martin
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2010.00784.x
Subject(s) - lifelong learning , course (navigation) , life course approach , tertiary level , higher education , political science , sociology , pedagogy , mathematics education , economic growth , psychology , economics , engineering , social psychology , aerospace engineering
In this article, I investigate the relation between economic inequality and the decision to take up studies at the tertiary level late in life. Who exactly decides to enrol? Is it advantaged or disadvantaged groups in terms of current earnings rank, occupation, unemployment experience and social origin? Using unique register data of university applications and discrete time hazard regression models, the results show the likelihood of a late entry to be especially high for individuals who are disadvantaged to a moderate extent in terms of current earnings rank and also with some unemployment experience. Class differences in the transition to tertiary education decline with age. This suggests, with a moderate amount of simplification, that lifelong learning tends to promote both intra‐ and intergenerational equality.