Regional higher education institutions (HEIs) were introduced in Sweden as a result of the 1977 higher education reform. This helped reduce the social bias in recruiting to higher education, according to four researchers in a new SNS report.
A Swedish higher education reform was introduced in 1977 that would fundamentally change the higher education sector. Twelve new regional HEIs were launched and there were massive political ambitions. One of the goals of the reform was that it would encourage more individuals from non-academic backgrounds to go on to higher education. This also turned out to be the case, at least locally, according to four researchers in the SNS report Democratizing and Decentralizing Higher Education: Evaluating the Swedish Higher Education Expansion in 1977.
“We have studied fourteen classes who graduated from high school during the period 1974–1987 and followed them until 2011. Ten years after the reform, the proportion of these cohorts going on to higher education had increased by almost five percentage points more in municipalities where new HEIs were launched than in comparison municipalities,” says Andreas Bergh, associate professor of economics.
The researchers also find that the reform contributed to somewhat reducing the social bias in recruiting to higher education. This applies to youths from academic backgrounds, but to an even greater extent to youths whose parents lack higher education.
“This result differs from previous studies from both Sweden and elsewhere, which have typically concluded that geographical proximity to an HEI does not affect the social bias in recruiting to higher education,” says Henrik Hällerfors, PhD student in economics.
However, the researchers stress that this result only applies to youths in the participating municipalities.
“For Sweden as a whole, this type of social bias has continued to this day and is also at a high level compared to other countries,” according to Joacim Tåg, visiting professor of economics.
And this is despite subsequent initiatives having been introduced. Regional HEIs have in recent years received more resources, accepted more students and in many cases been upgraded to universities.
“We do not evaluate the reform as a whole, but we see that the launch of regional HEIs has had some effect. However, it is difficult to say what would have happened had Sweden chosen a different path in its higher education policy,” argues Thomas Åstebro, professor of economics.
about the project
The report Democratizing and Decentralizing Higher Education: Evaluating the Swedish Higher Education Expansion in 1977 is part of the SNS research project Higher Education and Research. This project focuses on the governance, organization and funding of the higher education and research system. The aim is to contribute with analysis and facts on issues such as whether resources are to be invested in cutting-edge research or whether they are to be spread evenly across the country, whether research funding should be centralized or whether HEIs should have more autonomy to freely use their funds. The project timeframe is 2022–2024.
about the authors
Andreas Bergh is an associate professor of economics at Lund University and the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN).
Henrik Hällerfors is a PhD student in economics at Uppsala University and linked to IFN.
Joacim Tåg is a program director at IFN and a visiting professor of economics at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki.
Thomas Åstebro is a professor of entrepreneurship at HEC in Paris and linked to IFN.