This article aims to compare two aspects of the education systems in two East European countries. As the political history of the Czech Republic and Poland in the past fifty years is similar, the authors compare the countries' development in tackling educational inequalities and attempt to evaluate their policies and reforms from the beginning of socialism to date. Despite many similarities and identical outcomes in the past (no effect in lowering levels of educational inequalities), these countries undertook two different approaches to the transformation of higher education after 1989. The specific current developments in higher education in the Czech Republic and Poland have been caused by conservative and reserved legislation in the former and the creation of new, very liberal rules for establishing non-state higher education institutions in the latter. As there emerged a considerable difference in the number of higher education institutions in each country, the authors show the negative impact on educational inequalities and the social consequences of the enormous increase in the number of students and private universities. Despite different approaches, the countries face many similar problems, such as quality assurance, a shortage of staff, and information asymmetry. These problems seem to be sharper in Poland, but it is only a matter of time for the Czech Republic.
Renowned international experts in higher education financing have argued that, owing to large government deficits, tertiary education will not be able to open up and meet growing demand unless cost-sharing principles and efficient student financial aid programmes are introduced. Opponents of cost-sharing in higher education object that introducing tuition fees will raise inequality in access to higher education. Drawing on OECD data, and focusing on college expectations, the authors argue that the effects of ability, gender, and socio-economic background on college expectations are primarily shaped by the characteristics of secondary education systems, such as the degree of stratification and vocational specificity of secondary schools, while the principal characteristics of the tertiary education system, such as enrolment rates and the model of financing, play a much less important role. The results clearly show that, after controlling for the effects of secondary school system characteristics, cost-sharing, as such or by degree, does not affect the formation of college expectations by ability, gender, and socio-economic background as much as the selectivity of the secondary school system does.
This article looks at the status attainment process of young Hungarian graduates, devoting special attention to the impact of social origin, defined as the education and occupation of parents. The authors' estimates show that graduates from high status families enjoy notable advantages in the labour market, even when type of education, field of study, and a range of labour market experience factors are held constant. The greatest wage-premium for coming from a 'good' family is measured for men, occurring four-to-five years after graduation. Patterns of status inheritance are found to be gender-dependent, with women being more influenced by their social background at earlier phases of their careers. The authors argue that the substantial growth in the number of graduates and the increasing variety of jobs they occupy contribute to a social-selection process, moving further up from the educational ladder to the labour market. The authors describe possible mechanisms driving the direct inheritance of social advantages, but further research is needed to explore them in detail.