Democratizing and Decentralizing Higher Education: Evaluating the Swedish Higher Education Expansion in 1977

When the higher education sector was expanded in the postwar period, Sweden chose a model in which higher education institutions (HEIs) were established in new locations. This meant that it was possible to engage in higher education across Sweden, not only in the traditional university towns or in Stockholm and Gothenburg. Some of the arguments in favor of this approach included that it would lead to more students from non-academic backgrounds choosing to go on to higher education and also that this would benefit local labor markets and the local business sector. This report analyzes whether the 1977 higher education expansion, when 12 new university colleges were established, had the desired effects.

Results and conclusions

• The higher education expansion resulted in an increased proportion of university graduates from participating municipalities. This increase is partly due to the fact that more women chose to attend short higher education programs. The results also show that men in participating municipalities initially participated more in short programs. Over time, however, there was also an increased tendency to attend longer engineering programs.
• The proportion of students from a non-academic background who go on to higher education increased by about five percent in the participating municipalities. However, the impact for students with two parents with university degrees was about five times greater, around 25 percent. However, since it was relatively unusual to have two parents with university degrees in 1977, the bulk of the increase in the number of individuals who went on to higher education came from homes where both parents lacked a university degree. For young people with only one parent with a university degree, there is no effect whatsoever compared to other municipalities.
• The municipalities in which new HEIs were established in 1977 have a larger population 40 years later but generally not a higher proportion of university graduates in their population. They do, however, have a higher proportion of university graduates from non-academic backgrounds.
• In the participating municipalities, furthermore, fewer people also make a living as entrepreneurs compared to the municipalities used for comparison.

Authors

Andreas Bergh, associate professor of economics at Lund University and researcher at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

Henrik Hällerfors, PhD student in economics at Uppsala University and researcher at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

Joacim Tåg, program director at IFN and guest professor of economics at the Hanken School of Economics.

Thomas Åstebro, professor of entrepreneurship at HEC Paris and researcher at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics.