AQMeN - Applied Quantitative Methods Network

This seminar has been organised by the local Edinburgh network and is free for all members to attend.  Places are limited, sign up using the link below if you would like to attend.

Speakers:-

Cristina Iannelli, Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Methods, University of Edinburgh
Lindsay Paterson, Professor of Educational Policy, University of Edinburgh
Adam Gamoran, Professor of Sociology and Educational Policy Studies , University of Wisconsin-Madison

This AQMeN Edinburgh Seminar assesses the extent to which fields of study and postsecondary institutional sectors serve as mechanisms to preserve social stratification in Scottish higher education. We develop a hierarchy of fields of study based on their labour market returns (occupational and income) and their selectivity.

Data from representative surveys from six cohorts of Scottish school leavers were combined with data from Labour Force Surveys and Higher Education statistics to examine patterns of inequality in fields of study overall and within types of higher education institutions from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, the period of most rapid recent expansion of Scottish higher education. The results indicate that fields of study are not stratified by social origins. Indeed, we see some evidence of persons from less advantaged backgrounds choosing more lucrative fields of study. However, fields of study do magnify gender inequality, as men are overrepresented and women are underrepresented in fields with greater labour market returns.

Venue: University of Edinburgh, Main Library, Room 1.07, 30 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LJ