A 2010 paper published in "Higher Education" investigated the relationship between South African Grade 12 students' programme preferences in 2001 for study in higher education, student enrolment in higher education programmes in 2002, and student graduations in 2006, devising what the author dubbed a preference-enrolment-graduation…

Fairness in access to HE is unarguably a subject of paramount importance. Wherever a student's secondary school scores are relevant for access to HE, grade inflation practices may jeopardize fair access. Pressures for high grading are common in the context of educational consumerism and competition between schools and students. However, they…

Research on college choices is the new tool used by Higher Educational Institutions to help them identify the influences and factors affecting potential student populations. To measure the growing rate of working students in higher education, we propose to examine the decisions made after graduating from high school to current demographic changes.…

In France, while schools are supposed to be sources of social mobility, as in any democratic society, it appears that children from privileged socio-economic categories are increasingly overrepresented in preparatory classes for the Grandes Écoles. The French studies trying to understand elite reproduction have mainly focused on family inheritance…

In this article, we evaluate the impact of social origin on the realisation of educational intentions at the time of becoming eligible for higher education in Germany. In general, we find high persistence of intentions and actual attendance of higher education. However, effects of parental education on the changes of educational intentions…

While access to postsecondary education in Canada has increased over the past decade, a number of recent studies demonstrate that youth from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are vulnerable to some degree of exclusion from postsecondary education. These studies tend to emphasize the lack of financial resources and social capital as the main…

Using data from a recent survey of Australian secondary students, we find that those from higher socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to aspire to attend university. The same can be said for students who do not speak English at home. We find that students with an ethnic minority background are more likely to perceive higher levels of support…

In the tracked educational system of the Netherlands, students at the end of secondary education have to decide whether they want to enter subsequent post-secondary or tertiary education. Depending on the previous qualification, they have the choice between up to four different options, including not entering further education. We propose, in line…