Social Inequality in Dropout from Higher Education in Germany. Towards Combining the Student Integration Model and Rational Choice Theory [Scholarly Article - Research in Higher Education, June 2022]

Title:

Social Inequality in Dropout from Higher Education in Germany. Towards Combining the Student Integration Model and Rational Choice Theory

 

Authors:

Lars Müller & Daniel Klein

 

Published:

Research in Higher Education, 30 June 2022

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11162-022-09703-w

 

Abstract:

Students from a lower socioeconomic background have a higher risk of dropping out of higher education. The underlying mechanisms of this association between socioeconomic background and higher education dropout are not well understood. Previous research in higher education has followed Tinto’s model of academic and social integration to explain dropout but has largely neglected social inequality therein. In contrast, social stratification research draws on rational choice theory to explain social inequality in educational attainment but has rarely been applied to explain dropout from higher education. In our paper, we combine these two strands of research. Utilizing data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we draw on a largescale, representative sample of students in Germany to quantify the relative contribution of each theoretical approach for explaining social inequality in dropout from higher education. Binary logistic regression models reveal that both students’ integration and costs-benefit considerations are associated with their dropout risk net of each other. While academic and social integration appears to better predict dropout, rational choice theory accounts for a larger proportion of social inequality therein. We conclude that combining Tinto’s model and rational choice theory provides a more comprehensive perspective of dropouts from higher education and social inequality therein.

Equity in Latin American Higher Education: Dimensions and Indicators / Equidad en la educación superior latinoamericana: dimensiones e indicadores [Scholarly Article - ess, May 2021]

Title:

Equity in Latin American Higher Education: Dimensions and Indicators

Equidad en la educación superior latinoamericana: dimensiones e indicadores

 

Authors:

Ana García de Fanelli

Senior Research Scholar of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in the Higher Education Department of the Center for the Study of State and Society (CEDES), Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Senior Professor at the University of Buenos Aires

&

Cecilia Adrogué

Assistant Researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) Argentina in the Department of Economics of the University of San Andrés

 

Published:

Educatión Superior y Sociedad (ess), Volume 3, Number 1, 1 May 2021

https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/ess/index.php/ess3/article/view/339

 

Abstract:

This paper analyzes equity indicators in higher education in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay during the stages of secondary school completion, access, persistence and graduation from higher education, and advanced human capital formation. Among the findings, note that lower-income sectors’ main barrier to access higher education is the completion of secondary school. Although higher education rates show access gaps according to the socioeconomic level, social inequality is reduced in Argentina and Uruguay when these rates are calculated among secondary school graduates. All three countries reveal higher dropout rates in the lower-income sectors and among first-generation students in Argentina and Uruguay. Low graduation, especially in Uruguay and Argentina, has a negative impact on the proportion of the adult population with complete higher education. The analysis of this indicator by socioeconomic level shows considerable inequity gaps. Finally, the set of indicators examined reveals that women in the three countries outperform men in secondary completion, enrollment, persistence and graduation rates from higher education, and in the proportion of young people with complete higher education.

 

Note:

Article is in Spanish