Unequal access to education: the extent, sources, social and economic consequences, policy strategies

A vast number of studies conducted by the OECD and World Bank has well-documented that those countries reforming their educational systems and eliminating a variety of socio-economic barriers causing inequal access to education are today world leaders in competitiveness and economic growth. Yet, the Czech Republic still maintains its leading position in unequal access to higher education among the OECD countries. We suspect that one of the underlying causes of educational inequality is not only the socio-economic background of students, but also outdated structure of educational system, it’s low degree of openness and permeability. Therefore, the primary purpose of this project is to identify main causes of unequal access to higher education in the Czech Republic. Using already existing sets of longitudinal data, a number follow-up surveys will be carried out to examine two relevant cohorts: students finishing compulsory school attendance in 2003 (a panel of respondents assembled for the PISA 2003 project) and first-year university students (VS 2003/4). The analysis of these data, supplemented with a comparative analyses of the OECD data, will unveil the underlying causes of educational inequalities and mechanisms of their reproduction. The project will conclude with an extensive monograph and suggestions of possible educational reforms pertaining to the solution of the problem of educational inequalities inequalities which in the long run represent far-reaching negative social as well as economic consequences (i.e., loss of human resources and competitiveness) for the Czech Republic.