The Expansion of Higher Education and First Generation Students in Germany: Increasing Participation or Continuing Exclusion?

Massification of higher education in Germany has occurred since the middle of the 20th century. This has been aided by the absence of tuition fees except for a short period between 2006 and 2013, when fees were charged in seven of the 16 German states, as well as the establishment of a non-university sector of higher education (Fachhochschulen). The author discusses the question of whether or to what extent this expansion of participation in higher education has fostered equality of opportunity within Germany. After examination of this question, including through comparisons with other OECD countries, the author reaches the rather surprising conclusion that the expansion of the higher education system has, in fact, not corrected social inequality but rather has reinforced the role of higher education as an institution of social reproduction. He discusses a number of factors that may have led to this result.