Aspirations in action. Determinants and consequences of application behavior to upper secondary and higher education

Over the last thirty years, Swedish education has become increasingly defined by individual’s possibility to choose between different educational options. However, our knowledge of what structures these choices is limited. In the project, we analyse the determinants and consequences of a crucial step in this process – applications.

Using longitudinal datasets on all student’s ranked applications to upper secondary (1994-2023) and higher education (2005-2023), we study how different factors (e.g. gender, national origin, social background) influences the application process, including the shaping of individuals space of reachable programs, applications strategies individuals adopt, and the outcomes of these application strategies on future educational and professional careers.The project will be carried out over four years by three senior researchers and one affiliated PhD.

We will use a combination of statistical tools, primarily multinomial and ordinal regressions, and network analysis.

The project takes a new methodological path in the study of educational aspirations through access to students´ actual stated and ranked preferences at important educational cross-roads (rather than declarations collected via surveys and interviews).

The project will contribute to the understanding of how educational choices are influenced by different factors, and how this choice process in turn influences educational and occupational stratification.