The Relation between Unequal Access to Higher Education and Labour‐market Structure: the case of Greece

Abstract

This article is part (and the outcome) of my research on the inequality of access to Higher Education in Greece. My main focus will be the higher education entry National Examinations (Genikes Exetasis). Although my main data refer to the case of the metropolitan area of Athens, in this paper I will deal with inequalities of access to higher education at national level. I intend to show the differentiation, not just between, or within, the various higher education establishments and their respective disciplines ('hierarchisation of knowledge'), but also between the various occupations in the labour market ('hierarchisation of occupations'). This will be done, after a brief reference to the international debates on the equality of opportunities in schools, the evolution of the Greek school system, and the relation between the structure of the school system and the main characteristics of the Greek job market. By using national statistics, I will construct some ‘Indices of Educational Opportunities’ that show the patterns of ‘distribution’ of students in the various universities and other higher education institutes. The students will be categorised according to their parents’ occupation and educational level (i.e. father's occupational category, and father's and mother's level of education).