The academy can be foreign and complex, there are traditions and strange activities that can contribute to students not feeling welcome. In order for structures to change, it is necessary that they are made visible and that there is active work. So the question is: how do we get more people to apply for higher education and why is it important?
Last week, the University Chancellor's Office (UKÄ) and the Include network invited one workshop and startup due to the other thematic evaluation which evaluates the higher education institutions' work with broadened recruitment. In this text, I will go through what the investigation is about, what recruitment looks like at the university today, what is being done for broadened recruitment and what SFS thinks in the matter. Feel free to read my previous one as well Blog Post about an education for all.
What's going on in the matter right now?
For a long time, the social bias in recruitment to the university has followed the same pattern: it is more common for students whose parents have an academic education to apply for higher education. The question then becomes whether the higher education institutions are doing the right thing in their work, and if so, why are there no changes in the higher education institutions' work to broaden their recruitment and attract more people, especially those who did not grow up in a home with academics? Part of this is about several individuals making their choices early; already in preschool, it is explained what opportunities you as an individual have. The paths in life are many and the choices should not have to take place then, but we should all have real opportunities to see ourselves as prospective students.
In 2001, it was written into the Higher Education Act that universities and colleges in their activities must actively promote and broaden recruitment to higher education. During the years 2019 to 2022, UKÄ will, on behalf of the government, evaluate how universities and colleges work with broadened recruitment. It is a clear signal from the policy when the evaluations are announced. The former concerned sustainability in education and common to both is that they are in the interest of politics.
UKÄ's evaluations
Thematic evaluations are part of the national system for quality assurance and the method is adapted to the current theme to be evaluated. The purpose of thematic evaluations is both to contribute knowledge and to be useful for the higher education institutions' own development work. For these evaluations, SFS appoints two representatives who represent students 'and doctoral students' perspectives, and in addition to being part of the assessment group, SFS also acts as a reference group that is involved in the preliminaries when setting frameworks and focus on the assignment.
What SFS has highlighted is that data is important. The patterns and structures that are visible need to be coated in order to be able to bring about real change. In the evaluation that is now taking place, the majority is taken report forward. These are a good basis for seeking answers to trends and information, but above all welcome SFS's examples of initiatives that have yielded results.
So what does it really look like?
The proportion who start a higher education increases with the parents' level of education. In the cohort born in 1992, 22 percent of those with parents without a high school diploma had started university studies at the age of 25. For those with graduate parents, the proportion was 85 percent.
It is possible to see several different patterns and structures that prove who is applying for certain educations and how this has to do with background, origin, gender, study habits in the home, etc. I will explain some of the patterns that have been covered here.
Medical and architecture students usually have highly educated parents
In the academic year 2017/18, the highest proportion of highly educated parents in the educations for doctors and architects was 67 and 66 per cent, respectively. This was among beginners in the larger programs towards vocational degrees. The proportion of students with highly educated parents varies between different university educations, but it is remarkable that only every third person studying to become a doctor or architect does not have highly educated parents. Both educations are classified as prestigious and require both high performance during the studies but above all in admission. In UKÄ's report, the result is partly explained by the fact that high grades and a willingness to go far in the education system are linked to highly educated parents. The report indicates the idea that there is a desire to perform better than one's parents and that with lower education among the parents, the ambition will also be lower.
Studies abroad are more common if the parents are highly educated
The proportion studying abroad increases with the parents' level of education. Studying abroad can be foreign and difficult to understand, and when the parents themselves have studied at the university, it is more likely that knowledge of exchange studies contributes to it feeling easier to take the step out and go on an exchange. The higher education institutions make large information efforts and have returning students at high school exhibitions / as student ambassadors who answer questions about both studies and student life.
Among 25-year-olds in 2017 with postgraduate parents, 25 percent had studied abroad with Swedish study grants. For 25-year-olds with parents who have completed post-secondary education in at least three years, the proportion with studies abroad was 16 per cent, while it was only 3 per cent among those with low-educated parents. The question is important because it shows who acquires intercultural competences in studies abroad or exchange. These are experiences that are rewarded in both working life and the academic career.
Postgraduate studies most common if the parents have a postgraduate degree
At the workshop that UKÄ and Include conducted, it struck me that the aspect of broadened recruitment even within the academy is skewed. Studying a three-year program and taking a bachelor's degree is fairly common compared to continuing with a master's degree and on to postgraduate studies. Nevertheless, the same pattern is seen in the socially biased recruitment to studies at the doctoral level as to studies at the undergraduate and advanced level. The proportion of those who start doctoral studies increases with the parents' level of education. In the 1987 cohort, only 0,1 per cent of those with parents without a high school diploma had started postgraduate education at the latest at the age of 30. The corresponding proportion was 6,2 per cent among those who had doctoral parents.
Is the skewed recruitment to the university then a problem?
The higher education must be available to everyone, regardless of one's own or the parents' background. We could also see it as exclusionary structures creating an unequal environment to which only some have access. This type of unequal structure in state-funded activities should be strategically opposed from a political point of view.
For the individual, there are advantages to university studies and this applies regardless of one's background. It is unfair that one's background to such an extent affects the probability of further study. Studies should enrich you as an individual and communities at large. The profit that is made refers to the knowledge that you as a student acquire and assimilate. In addition, there are data that show that a university education increases the probability of secure employment conditions, good health, high pay and a career in working life. Now I do not claim that an education is everything but it is a very good basis for a good life and of course, as a representative of students and doctoral students, I know from my own experiences how wonderful it can be and I want everyone to have opportunity to imagine.
It is also an important issue for society at large. The skewed recruitment leads to people who are well suited for higher education not studying. This in turn contributes to the limitation of its work, possibly they had performed very well both in their studies and in professional life. It will be a matter of utilizing the potential knowledge, skills and eventually experience.
If Sweden wants to achieve our goals with, for example, Agenda 2030, we must raise the level of knowledge further by enabling more people to get an education and by promoting structures that strengthen a more meritocratic, democratic society. At a time when some industries are calling for more graduates, there is a risk that we will not only fail to fill society's shortcomings, but also that most capable young people will not unnecessarily have the opportunity for further studies and the benefits it can bring. .
SFS requests
SFS wants those who go on exchange studies or study abroad, those who are accepted or recruited to the university and those who then go on to postgraduate education to reflect Swedish society in all its diversity.
What SFS has so far been heard for in UKÄ's review are various reports that have been produced and the ongoing evaluation that is taking place. There are more of us who have requested these. Now that we eventually get to read them in their entirety, I wish we could also take part in good examples. Is it really the case that what has been done has not paid off more? We (in the student movement, society, business and politics) agree on the benefits and the common drive, but still it feels as if we repeatedly fail. So a change is needed - the question is just what - what do you think?