Higher education segregation in Spain: Gender constructs and social background

The waning influence of ascriptive factors on occupational status has been related to the expansion of higher education systems and economic modernisation. The theory of Effectively Maintained Inequality observes that the horizontal stratification of university degrees is a strategy of social differentiation used mainly by the most advantaged social class to access the occupations that are better valued in the labour market. This article verifies the effectively maintained inequality theory by means of a statistical analysis of selected degrees, differentiated by gender and social class, carried out in a Spanish university during the period of expansion and consolidation of the higher education system. The results confirm the theory, but they are partially conditioned by the vertical stratification that alters the composition by gender of the contingent of students of less advantaged social class, in which women present a greater tendency to choose degrees that are less valued by the market

Academic freedom in Europe: a preliminary comparative analysis

Using comparative data from 23 states within the European Union, this paper is a preliminary assessment of the protection for, and (by extension) the health of, academic freedom in the universities of the nations of the European Union. The paper examines constitutional and legislative protection for academic freedom, along with legal regulations concerning institutional governance, the appointment of the Rector and the existence of academic tenure, in order to create a composite picture of the health of academic freedom in the universities within the European Union nations. Additionally the paper considers how this preliminary analysis could be extended through possible further research to aid refinement of the results, and what policy steps could usefully be adopted at European level to protect and strengthen academic freedom

Revista Cultura Económica, 2007, Año XXV nº 68 (número completo)

Contenido: Editorial -- La dimensión humana en las organizaciones industriales flexibles / Jorge Alejandro Mohamad -- Crecimiento económico : del crecimiento endógeno al nuevo rol de las políticas económicas / Ernesto A. O’Connor -- Tendencias recientes en las universidades / Josep M. Bricall -- ¿Deben las universidades imitar a la industria? / Saunders Mac Lane -- Nuevos temas éticos en la ciencia económica / José Enrique Miguens -- Jornada de Epistemología de la Economía : ¿Qué Antropología es necesaria para una Epistemología de la Economía? / Carlos Hoevel, Gabriel Zanotti, Ricardo Crespo -- Josef Pieper como filósofo social / Berthold Wald - Reseñas de libro