Social background effects in choice of tertiary institution type

The study examines social background effects on choice of tertiary institution type based on the longitudinal study BIJU, conducted in the federal states North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. The focus lies on the underlying mechanisms of social inequality of transitions to universities, universities of applied sciences and universities of cooperative education. They are modelled via primary effects (social differences in final school marks and standardized test scores), secondary effects in the form of motivational aspects regarding educational choices and characteristics of the educational pathway. The results show that students with an academic background are more likely to choose to study at university than other students; the contrary applies for universities of applied sciences. In the multivariate analysis, social background effects can partly be explained by differences in the type of higher education entrance qualification, vocational education, English language performance and motivational aspects. The results remain stable when examining only one subject area (economics) that can be studied at all three tertiary institution types.