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Achieving Equity and Quality in Higher Education pp 25–49Cite as

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Vertically Segregated Higher Education and the Life Course: Comparing Patterns Over 28 Years

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Abstract

We employ longitudinal survey data from the British Columbia, Canada Paths on Life’s Way project to determine educational participation and completion patterns through a vertically segregated articulated postsecondary system and occupational outcomes 28 years later. Also, we examine the extent to which ascriptive characteristics have “dissipating” or “lingering” effects on educational and occupational outcomes. Through sequence analysis and cluster analysis, we illustrate postsecondary enrolment and completion rates by institutional type from 1988 to 2016. We reveal five distinct clusters. We use multivariate analyses to demonstrate how education and employment outcomes differ for those who embarked on “traditional” and “non-traditional” higher education pathways. We conclude that ascriptive characteristics in mid-adulthood have had both dissipating and lingering effects on educational and occupational outcomes.

We thank the British Columbia Council on Admission and Transfer and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for their financial support of this research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    To ensure that non-attendance did not drive the formation of clusters, the matrix is comprised of a substitution cost of one for non-attendance, a substitution cost of two for universities, a substitution cost of three for all other institutional types, and an insertion/deletion cost of four. We use discrepancy measures to guide our choice in the number of clusters (Studer et al. 2011).

  2. 2.

    Statistically significant in multinomial regression is based on the cluster of comparison. For example, if Cluster 2 was chosen as the reference, there would be a significant gender and parental difference for Cluster 4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Lesley Andres

  2. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Ashley Pullman

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  1. Lesley Andres
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  2. Ashley Pullman
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Correspondence to Lesley Andres .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia

    Mahsood Shah

  2. Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia

    Jade McKay

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Andres, L., Pullman, A. (2018). Vertically Segregated Higher Education and the Life Course: Comparing Patterns Over 28 Years. In: Shah, M., McKay, J. (eds) Achieving Equity and Quality in Higher Education. Palgrave Studies in Excellence and Equity in Global Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78316-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78316-1_2

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