University ‘social divide’ persists

Traditional universities in the Nordic countries are still mostly attended by students from higher social classes, a study has reported.

The project, which mapped changes in higher education in the Nordic countries during the past 30 years, was led by Mikael Börjesson at Uppsala University’s department of education. The results show that medical training was the most exclusive field in universities across the region, Börjesson said in a statement on 9 November.

“Medical schools still have an elite status that is extremely difficult to get into,” said Börjesson. “We need to move forward with a more precise analysis of why areas such as medicine, but also law, dentistry, and further education in the fine arts, have retained such selective recruitment and continue to have a dominant position in each country.”