GOASTELLEC GAËLE

University of Lausanne

The measurement of inequalities in education through the perspective of higher education: global challenges, local actors?

In a context of ever-increasing school rankings and statistical data on higher education systems, this paper examines the various stakeholders who designed statistical indicators on unequal access to higher education. The comparison and characterisation of indicators of inequalities in access to higher education available in international (UNESCO, OECD, EUROSTAT) and national (Germany, England, France and Switzerland) databases show the tension between words and the indicators designed and questions the national nature of these indicators. Who says what and for what results? Who turns social facts into things? What combination of stakeholders characterise these processes? What power relations are they the result of?

In a first part I will identify the official lines of main international organisations on inequalities in access to higher education and compare them to available data with a view to understanding the gap between words and initiatives: these indicators do not address the issues that emerged in the recommendations of international organisations. This gap between recommendations and available tools raises several questions: why is there such a contrast? What are the mechanisms at work? Is it a technical or a political problem?

In a second part, I will examine this gap drawing upon the history of international organisations and the national production of indicators and underline what they reveal about national specificities in the social construction of inequalities. The comparison of German, British, French and Swiss cases will illustrate this gap.

I will finally explore how indicators of inequalities in access to higher education are produced through the comparison of local, national, and international frameworks for interpreting the world.