Exploring pathways in university education

The aim of the paper is to analyse enrollment patterns among students in seven first-cycle study programmes with professional qualifications using microdata from Statistics Sweden. The study programmes were for the years 2001-2002 in Architecture, Medicine, Nursing, Law, Social work, Psychology and Engineering (n=15,749). Using the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology, the enrollment patterns were analysed with Specific Multiple Correspondence Analysis. The results showed that the most important factors that account for differences between coherent intensive and scattered extensive enrollment patterns were study programmes, gender, mother’s socioeconomic index, parents’ educational level, and type of university. Other notable factors in deviation were grades, student’s nation of birth, and parents’ nations of birth, father’s socioeconomic index, parents’ work sectors, and preparatory studies in municipal adult education.Regarding efficiency in earning credits, the most important factors were study programme and type of university. Other important factors were gender, study programmes, grades, student’s nation of birth, mother’s nation of birth, preparatory studies in municipal adult education, income, and parents’ work sectors. The factors most important for graduation pursuing were gender and type of university. Other factors that were important were study programme, grades, income, parents’ work sectors, student’s nation of birth, and parents’ nations of birth.