Stratification and Inequality in Education - the Role of Context

Enrollment In higher education in the Covid 19 era

In addition to its well-known effects on teaching and learning in higher education, The Covid 19 Pandemic may have implications on the rate and the pattern of enrollment. According to previous research, recession expands the enrollment in higher education. Labor markets crisis may provide a motivation for enrollment in higher education to high-school graduates who had no academic ambitions beforehand. It may also motivate a work to school transition of academic and non-academic workers. Kelcher and Ritter (2021) report, however, that in the US, the Pandemic reduced rather than expanded enrollment in higher education, particularly in community colleges and among first-time students. Obviously, the pattern may be different in other countries. For a further discussion of this topic, the session invites papers that explore the link between the Covid 19 pandemic and enrollment in higher education in different higher education systems. Possible topics include changes in the enrollment in higher education; gender and ethnic inequality in enrollment; work to school transition in the pandemic era; changing popularity of fields of study; Changes in the popularity of different higher education institution types; changes in the enrollment of international students.

References

Kelchen, R., Ritter, D., & Webber, D. (2021). The lingering fiscal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.