European Journal of Social Sciences Studies ISSN: 2501-8590 ISSN-L: 2501-8590 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/soc Volume 2 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.833358 SOCIAL CLASS, PERFORMANCE IN UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS AND CHOICE OF STUDIES IN GREEK HIGHER EDUCATION Iakovos Tsiplakides University of Ioannina, Greece Abstract: The increase in participation in higher education in many countries in recent decades and the fact that more people participate in it has not led to a significant reduction in social inequalities. This is because widened access has been accompanied by a differentiated and stratified higher education sector. Students from more privileged socioeconomic backgrounds usually study in prestigious higher education institutions and departments which offer high labour market rewards. By contrast, working class students are overrepresented in lower status institutions and departments. In addition, working class students have lower completion rates than students from middle class backgrounds. In this paper, we examine whether these findings apply in the Greek higher education sector with its unique characteristics. We use official data to examine the relationship between students socioeconomic background and allocation in the different university departments. The research findings show that the Greek higher education sector is stratified by social class, since students with a father who is a higher education graduate or come from professional backgrounds usually attend prestigious university departments such as the Medical or the Law School. On the basis of the research findings, we argue that measures should be taken so that all students, regardless of socioeconomic background have educational qualifications that allow them to enroll at their preferred higher education departments, rather than those available to them due to their performance in university entrance examinations. Keywords: widening of participation in higher education, social inequalities Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 166 Iakovos Tsiplakides SOCIAL CLASS, PERFORMANCE IN UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS AND CHOICE OF STUDIES IN GREEK HIGHER EDUCATION 1. Introduction In sociological research, higher education is at the heart of the academic research agenda. This is because in modern knowledge economies, economic development depends in part on the presence of an educated and skilled workforce and on technological improvements that raise productivity OECD, :9). In this framework, the official rhetoric holds that education, and especially higher education, contributes to national competitiveness and prosperity. Researchers who examine higher education and choice of studies in higher education from a sociological perspective have consistently highlighted the barriers faced by students from less privileged social classes (Pugsley, 2004). These barriers include financial constraints and constraints related to lower levels of performance in the university entrance which means that not many choices are available to these students. As a result, despite increased access to higher education institutions in many countries in the past decades, inequalities persist. This means that although widening participation policies have been implemented in many countries, the goal of equity has not been achieved (Brooks, 2004). Research data shows that despite the fact that more people from previously underrepresented social groups enter higher education, such as working class and ethnic minority students, they mostly universities to their middle class counterparts Reay et al, are entering different . In this framework, researchers have argued that while many countries have policies for increasing higher education participation, only a minority of countries have actually defined participation and attainment targets for specified groups Crosier et al, : . Distribution within higher education is correlated with social class. More specifically, middle class students enter higher status universities and university departments that guarantee knowledge and competences necessary for success in highskill occupations (Eurydice, 2014) and consequently higher future earnings. Working class students, on the other hand, study in less prestigious higher education institutions and course of study. In summary, we now have in many countries, a stratified higher education sector, which serves to reproduce inequalities in higher education. From a sociological perspective, the work of Pierre Bourdieu has often been used to explain class differentials in the higher education choice process that serves to reproduce inequalities. ‛ourdieu argues that students families cultural, social and economic capital (Bourdieu, 1986) impact strongly on the choice making process. His theory is as follows. As part of the process of socialization within the family upper and middle class students, children acquire familiarity with the dominant culture that is valued in schools – thus, they have higher academic performance (Bourdieu, 1990). European Journal of Social Sciences Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 167 Iakovos Tsiplakides SOCIAL CLASS, PERFORMANCE IN UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS AND CHOICE OF STUDIES IN GREEK HIGHER EDUCATION They gradually develop a certain set of socially grounded dispositions, which he describes as habitus , Bourdieu, 1977; Pugsley, 2004). These dispositions, in turn, define certain sets of actions. For instance, for these students going to university are the norm, a taken for granted decision ‛ourdieu, 99 . For these students, attending university is a choice that does not be to be articulated. They only have to choose a higher education institution and course of study. In the choice process they are at an advantage, since they usually have high performance, so many choices are available to them. Bearing the above discussion into consideration, the aim of this article is to examine a relatively neglected parameter of the admission process in Greece – the applicants choice of course of study in higher education. While there is a growing body of research on choosing higher education institution, relatively little attention has been paid to the choice process in relation to choice of course of study, so it remains a relatively unexplored aspect of the admission process. The research we present in this article sets out to examine the relationship between performance in university entrance examinations, choice of studies in higher education and social class in Greece. The reasons that led us to examine this issue were the following. First, the peculiarities of the Greek higher education system and the system for university entrance. In other words, we wanted to examine whether and to what extend research findings that show persistence of social inequalities in higher education despite increased access apply to Greece. In recent decades, there has been an expansion of the higher education sector in Greece, since the number of higher education entrants reached 70,000 in the academic year 2017-18, from 43,000 in 1994. Another reason that led us to conduct this research is related to the characteristics of the Greek educational system, such as the widely spread resort to out-of-school support for the preparation for these highly competitive examinations. These unique characteristics of the Greek higher education sector are described and analysed below. For downloading the full article, please access the following link: http://oapub.org/soc/index.php/EJSSS/article/view/145 European Journal of Social Sciences Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 168