Does Higher Relative Participation in Higher Education also Mean a Higher Absolute Number of Students?

Abstract

In this paper, the relationship between relative and absolute participation in undergraduate higher education in Slovenia is investigated. That relationship results from the interrelationship between factors contributing to relative participation in higher education and the size of youth populations. The development patterns of the relative and absolute participation in undergraduate higher education in Slovenia are presented. In order to empirically test the authors' hypotheses, two separate multiple regression analyses were conducted. The first analyzes factors of the demographic base, and the second analyzes factors of the relative participation in undergraduate higher education. The results reveal the factors contributing to both the demographic base and relative participation in undergraduate higher education and identifies the significant factor linking them to each other. This factor works in one direction in the case of the demographic base and in the opposite direction in the case of the relative participation in undergraduate higher education, causing the relationship between changes in relative and absolute participation in higher education. At the end of the paper, findings confirming the hypotheses are presented with an explanation of the background of the empirical findings.