Social inequality in access to prestigious fields of study: The interplay of students’ application behavior and universities’ recruitment procedures

该项目研究进入著名研究领域的社会不平等问题。这些领域不仅是高等教育学位，而且完成的研究领域也会影响未来的劳动力市场成就。我们调查了医学和药学的研究项目，大学的招生程序和标准及其与申请人的个人特征和申请行为的相互作用是否以及如何导致这些领域的全国性选择性大学名额的社会不平等。我们在登记册中使用的数据来自高等教育基金会和WZB进行的一项在线研究。该项目的目的是更好地了解大学的招聘程序和标准是否以及为什么对社会背景较低和较高的申请人的申请成功有不同的影响。我们将探讨所谓的社会分层的主要影响（即，根据成绩）和次级效应（根据教育决定和应用战略，扣除成绩差异）。该项目将提供新的见解，了解进入著名研究领域（和这些职业）的社会不平等是如何由体制障碍造成的，以及哪些招聘程序和标准对社会背景较低的申请人特别不利。

This project studies social inequalities in access to prestigious fields of studies. These fields are of interest as not only a tertiary educational degree but also the fields of study completed influence future labor market attainment. We investigate for the study programs in medicine and pharmacy whether and how universities’ recruitment procedures and criteria and their interplay with applicants’ individual characteristics and application behavior contribute to social inequalities in access to the nationwide selective university places in these fields. We use in register data of the Stiftung fuer Hochschulzulassung and a linked online study, conducted by the WZB. The aim of the project is to better understand whether and why universities’ recruitment procedures and criteria influence success of applications differently for applicants from lower and higher social background. We will explore how important are so-called primary effects of social stratification (i.e., based on performance) and secondary effects (based on educational decisions and application strategies, net of differences in performance). The project will provide new insights in how social inequalities in access to prestigious fields of studies (and these occupations) are generated by institutional hurdles and which recruitment procedures and criteria are particularly disadvantageous for applicants from lower social background.