Transition to university from high school and second-cycle vocational training: The importance of socioeconomic factors

The transition from upper secondary education to tertiary education accumulates the inequalities produced in previous crossings of the educational system and is also influenced by academic performance. Moreover, educational expansion, in addition to widening possible schooling tracks for accessing university, poses new questions about the persistence of this inequality of educational opportunities. To try to answer this question, this article analyses the demand for higher education, differentiating between students with an upper secondary school diploma (academic track) and those with a second-cycle vocational training certificate. Using data from the Joventut de Catalunya Survey, contingency tables are constructed and binary logistic regression is performed to test the probability of success (going to university) according to different model variables. The results show that grades have an important influence on students with a lower socioeconomic status. For students with more socioeconomic resources, going to university is a natural path rather than an option, regardless of grades (compensation effect). There are also clear differences between upper secondary school graduates, who enrol in university in high proportions, and those from second-level vocational training programmes, who do so in smaller proportions.