Expanding education and improving odds? Participation in higher education in Finland in the 1980s and 1990s

This article focuses mainly on the key results of research on the differenc es in participation in higher education in Finland in the 1980s and 1990s. The recent discussion surrounding the methods of measuring participation in higher education is also considered. The results show that, in 1980, the o dds for children of the well educated participating in higher education was 13 times greater than that of children of fathers with only a basic level of education. Since then, the trend has decreased slowly from 12 in 1985 to 10 in 1995. Despite the various egalitarian policy measures applied by the State, the difference in participation, indicated by the odds ratio 10, is still enormous, and the actual situation for youth with poor family backgr ounds has not changed during the past decades. The persistent inequality of educational opportunity in relative terms revealed by the odds ratio, whic h the authors argue to be the appropriate measure for changes over time, is analysed further by exploring regional differences and the differences bet ween various fields of study. It is shown that the real competition for hig her education is among the well off. This is illustrated by a metaphor from bicycle racing: even if the tail-end cyclists reach the main pack, the fro nt-runners widen their gap between the main pack.