Horizontal and Vertical Differentiation within Higher Education – Gender and Class Perspectives

Abstract The study outline differences among classes and genders within higher education. Because of the expansion of places of study, higher education has lost some of its former selectivity. The matriculation of one full birth cohort into Swedish higher education was studied. The results showed that the enrolment of working‐ and intermediate‐class women had increased, while women from the upper‐middle class, also previously enrolled in higher education, had expanded their educational options becoming involved in prestigious and previously male‐dominated programmes.